


Tomorrow... Maybe

by Ellie603



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: (and second and third kisses), (only it's summer), Alternate Universe, Coming Out, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Groundhog Day, Hiking, M/M, New In Town Patrick, Panic Attacks, Pining, Season 3 AU (sort of), same day over and over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24129772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie603/pseuds/Ellie603
Summary: Patrick Brewer isn’t too sure about Schitt’s Creek, but he is sure that David Rose, the man about to open the new general store, is someone he wants to get to know better. But when Patrick wakes up and finds himself reliving his first full day in town over and over again, getting to know David Rose takes on an entirely new meaning.AGroundhog DayAU
Relationships: Patrick Brewer & Alexis Rose, Patrick Brewer/David Rose, Stevie Budd & Patrick Brewer
Comments: 144
Kudos: 278
Collections: Reel Schitt's Creek Prompt Fest





	1. they say we're young and we don't know

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [the_hodag](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_hodag/pseuds/the_hodag) in the [Reel_Schitts_Creek](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Reel_Schitts_Creek) collection. 



> **Prompt: Patrick keeps living the same day over and over again, and he can't figure out why.**
> 
> I was so excited to write this when I saw the prompt – Groundhog Day is one of my all-time favorite movies, but it’s also the exact balance of real life and the impossible that I love to write, so just all around a fun time for me. This is a super super loose AU – the same general premise obviously and some of the same beats from the original movie (plus a couple little references), but otherwise not too related. Patrick is obviously a way better person than Bill Murray's Phil Connors so I tried not to hurt him too much.
> 
> This is sort of a Friends and Family AU, but really it's just general end of season 3-esque stuff not directly tied to any particular episode.
> 
> Chapter titles and the song throughout this are Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” as an homage to the actual movie. Also just knowing that Chris Elliott is in both of these is of immense enjoyment to me.
> 
> This has been an absolute blast to write, and I hope you guys like it!
> 
> Enjoy!

Patrick sighed as he walked down the empty road from the place he was staying into town. He could have driven, but Ray said the walk wasn’t too long, and Patrick honestly just needed some time to think.

The last few weeks played over on a loop in his mind.

Breaking up with Rachel one final time. Moving back in with his mom and dad while he figured out what to do next. The sad way both of them looked at him every time he emerged from his room. Running into Rachel almost immediately when he finally did leave the house, making him realize that he really did need more distance from everything. Finding a job in a small town, hours away, that he’d never heard of. Meeting the friendly, if not _too_ -friendly, entrepreneur he was working for and renting a room in his house.

Patrick had told his parents where he was going, and then he’d left without another word. He needed to figure things out. And he needed somewhere new to do that.

Which left him here, walking through what must be the center of Schitt’s Creek. He passed Town Hall, then further on, a typical small-town garage and a storefront, some kind of boutique that seemed much nicer than the aesthetic of the town, “Rose Apothecary” emblazoned across the façade, a large sign artistically lettered “COMING SOON” in the window, before he finally arrived at the town’s only restaurant, according to Ray, Café Tropical.

Ray had wanted to get dinner with him, but had been unexpectedly held up with clients, so Patrick had been sent off by himself with a very lengthy apology. Patrick had discovered very quickly that Ray really likes to chat.

Patrick slipped into the Café and found it pleasantly crowded, a few empty tables and open seats at the counter, but a steady hum of voices filing the air. It reminded Patrick of his favorite diner back home where he used to go with his parents after baseball games. He felt an immediate pang of homesickness.

“Hi there! You can take a seat wherever you’d like, and I’ll be right with you,” a friendly voice greeted him, a brown-haired woman with a wide smile, “Twyla” according to her name tag.

Patrick offered a nod in thanks and took a seat at the far end of the counter, grabbing an oversize menu and scanning through the large pages quickly.

“So what can I get you to drink?”

Twyla was back behind the counter, the same wide smile still on her face as if permanently etched there.

“Just water for now, and a burger and fries too,” Patrick ordered quickly, closing up his menu.

“Sure thing.” Twyla took his menu from him and disappeared for a minute, reappearing with a glass of water.

“Thanks.”

“You’re new here, right?” Twyla asked conversationally. “Are you just passing through or is this more permanent?”

Patrick shrugged. “I just got a job working for Ray Butani,” he said, assuming that the town was small enough that Twyla would know Ray.

The look of realization in Twyla’s eyes confirmed it for him. “Oh, right! Ray had me put up a job posting on the bulletin board the other day. Town business manager or something right?”

Patrick nodded. “Yeah, business manager or consultant or whatever Ray needs from me here.” He probably should have been clearer on the job title, but in his hurry to get out of town, Patrick hadn’t been too picky.

“Well, welcome to Schitt’s Creek! I’m Twyla. If you ever need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.” With another smile Twyla was gone, off to take another order or deliver some food.

With Twyla gone, Patrick allowed himself to look around the Café. Most patrons were the typical small-town folks he would have expected in a place like this. Lots of flannel, lots of jeans, lots of smiles and waves from table to table.

So the occupants of the middle booth along the opposite wall naturally caught his attention.

The family – he assumed it was a family – looked entirely out of place in a little café in a town in the middle of nowhere, though, as Patrick watched, several different townspeople came up to talk to them in a familiar sort of way that led Patrick to believe they weren’t out-of-towners like him.

The older woman was wearing some kind of gown, her hair half black and half white as she peered out thin glasses at the man next to her, her husband certainly. He was wearing a full suit that would have been much more at home in the business district of a big city rather than this small-town café at 7PM on a Thursday.

The pair across from them, Patrick would have bet siblings by how they kept jostling each other for space in the booth, were also impeccably dressed, the younger woman’s blonde hair hanging in perfectly styled waves with gold bracelets dangling against her arms.

But it was the man beside her who most caught Patrick’s attention. His black and white sweater stood out sharply even against his family, though Patrick could see some style resemblance between him and the woman who must have been his mother. But it was something about his face that struck Patrick.

He was beautiful. That was the only word for it. Those dark eyes and his mouth raised slightly to the side, smirking at something the older woman was saying to his sister.

It was an odd thing for Patrick to notice, but he wrote it off as regular curiosity about the most interesting person he’d seen since arriving in town. And if he watched the man in the black and white sweater for longer than was socially appropriate, who was going to say anything?

“Those are the Roses,” Twyla startled him, setting down his burger on the counter. “They’ve been living in town for a year or two.”

The name Rose stirred up a memory. “Wait, like the Rose Video Roses?”

Twyla nodded immediately. “Yep. Mr. Rose ran Rose Video, and Mrs. Rose used to be on _Sunrise Bay_ , the old soap opera.”

Patrick nodded. He remembered Johnny Rose from old Rose Video paraphernalia from his teens, and he’d definitely seen some kind of tabloid article about the Rose family in the last year or two, maybe on the cover of some trashy gossip magazine at the dentist or the grocery store. Something about them losing their money.

Apparently they’d wound up here.

Patrick opened his mouth to ask Twyla about the younger Roses, but she was gone.

Patrick spared one last glance back at the dark-haired Rose man who was now eating a sandwich and ignoring the rest of his family. Maybe Patrick would meet him sometime.

He returned to his own burger (not the best, but not bad, about what he expected from small-town café food) and ate quickly. As he went to pay at the register, the Roses passed by him.

“If we get another last-minute booking, we’ll be full tomorrow for the first time!” Mr. Rose was saying.

“All thanks to you, no doubt,” Mrs. Rose replied supportively.

“Dad _almost_ selling out the motel is _not_ the most important thing happening tomorrow, I hope you all know that.” The man in the sweater was speaking now. His voice had an edge to it. He was annoyed about something. Or nervous. Maybe both.

The family left before Patrick could hear anything else, so he paid his bill and thanked Twyla who replied with another bright smile.

Patrick started to open the door but found himself suddenly face to face with the dark-haired man.

“Oh!” Startled by the other man’s presence, Patrick was unable to say anything more than that, let alone move out of the doorway.

“Hi,” the other man replied, seeming just as confused to see Patrick as Patrick had been to see him.

“Right, um, sorry,” Patrick apologized, finally shaking himself out of whatever trance he was in and moving out of the way.

“It’s fine.” The other man passed him, but then stopped. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

Patrick nodded quickly. “Just moved here this morning.”

The other man’s eyes went wide. “Wow. I would like to say that it gets better than the Café, but honestly this might be the high point of the town.”

Patrick laughed. “I haven’t found anything too bad, so far.”

The other man grimaced. “Just give it time.”

Patrick grinned. “Maybe I’ll see you around, and you can show me just how bad it is. I’m Patrick, by the way.”

He extended his hand, but before the other man could take it, the blonde woman who had been sitting with the other man opened the Café door.

“Ugh David, grab your wallet and come on! Mom and Dad are being gross, and I don’t want to walk the whole way back with that.”

“Ugh, Alexis!”

David, Patrick now knew, flashed Patrick an eyeroll before heading back across the Café to the booth where he had apparently dropped his wallet.

Patrick stared after him with an amused grin on his face.

“I’m David, as you might have surmised,” David said as he returned. His voice was soft now, any annoyance gone. “It was nice to meet you, Patrick.”

He slipped through the door and was gone.

Patrick smiled to himself and then followed him, witnessing David groan as he tried to catch up with the rest of his family, walking in the opposite direction of Ray’s.

Patrick kept smiling for his entire walk back.

He’d made a friend. Or, more accurately, he’d met someone who he could see becoming his friend. Patrick didn’t think he would mind spending more time with David Rose. And Twyla had been nice too.

It certainly could have been a worse first evening in a new town.

He was feeling a little less charitable two hours later when he’d finally been released from conversation with Ray and half of a movie on TV that Patrick had no interest in actually watching. Ray was nice, but Patrick could tell he was going to have to get used to him.

He settled back in bed, his thoughts turning back home. His parents were almost certainly worried about him. And Rachel was probably still upset from their very awkward grocery store encounter the previous week. He missed them. Even Rachel. Things were familiar here in a small-town sort of way, but it wasn’t the same.

He knew it was for the best that he’d left, but it was going to be a while before he felt okay here. Not that he’d really felt all that okay back home either.

But still.

He would just have to work with whatever this new town was going to throw at him.

* * *

Patrick woke up the next morning to the approaching sound of singing.

“Then put your little hand in mine. There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb.”

Patrick furrowed his brow as he rubbed at his eyes. Was that Ray singing Sonny & Cher at – Patrick checked his phone – 7 in the morning?

“I got you babe! I got you babe!”

Patrick’s door opened at that, revealing a wide-awake and smiling Ray.

“Rise and shine, Patrick! First day on the job!” Ray announced brightly as though he hadn’t just barged into Patrick’s room. “I’m making you a nice breakfast. What would you like?”

“Oh, you don’t need to go to any trouble, Ray,” Patrick replied immediately, feeling a little self-conscious about Ray being in his room like this.

“Of course I do!” Ray replied with a laugh. “You’re my guest! Though for our agreed upon rent of course. The breakfast I do throw in for free.”

“Really it’s fine, Ray.”

“Pancakes? Eggs? Bacon?” Ray continued as though Patrick hadn’t spoken.

“Whatever’s fine, really,” Patrick acquiesced finally.

Ray beamed at him. “I’ll just make a little of everything then.”

And before Patrick could argue, Ray was gone.

Patrick lay back in his bed hard as his alarm started going off beside him. He’d been setting it later than usual lately because he’d been having trouble sleeping, but he’d have to go back to his usual time to avoid waking up to Ray again. He shut the alarm off quickly, catching sight of the date as he unlocked his phone.

7:15AM, Friday June 19th. The first day of his new life in Schitt’s Creek.

Patrick got up, showered, and got ready with only two more interruption from Ray – one to ask if he preferred blueberry or chocolate chip pancakes and another to ask how he liked his eggs.

Fortunately, breakfast was good. Ray’s blueberry pancakes were almost as good as his dad’s. And they only made Patrick miss home a little bit.

By 8:30 Ray had started unceremoniously bringing boxes over to the desk that was now Patrick’s, explaining that the town’s business affairs had been piling up a bit since he was only partially responsible for them and really it was the town council’s fault. Patrick wasn’t exactly following the chain of command here, but he knew he could handle the work. Getting business licenses, filling out forms, filing paperwork, figuring out whatever organizational system Ray had been using – Patrick could handle all of that just fine.

“Oh but the first thing that you need to do today is this.” Ray rummaged through a stack of more recent-looking papers that were already sitting out. “Aha!” Ray pulled out a paperclipped pile of forms and handed them to Patrick.

Clear across the top was a name that Patrick already knew.

“David Rose has to sign these today and have them submitted before his store opens tonight,” Ray explained pointing to the line below David’s name where “Rose Apothecary” was written in neat script.

“Oh that’s David’s store?”

“Yes, and tonight’s the opening. He’s doing a friends and family discount, but I unfortunately will be unable to attend. It’s bingo night in Elmdale.”

Patrick frowned slightly, numerous questions floating through his mind about David’s store, the opening, whether Ray technically qualified as a friend or family member of David Rose (and if he was a friend why bingo would trump such an important day), and, most importantly, why this paperwork had been left until this very last minute (that one Patrick already thought he knew the answer to, based on the stacks of paperwork Ray had for him and Ray’s clear preoccupation with his many businesses), but Patrick just nodded.

“David lives at the motel, but he could be at his store already, so maybe check there first,” Ray suggested. “That paperwork really should have already been filed.”

The reproachful glance that Ray gave him as he walked back to his own desk left Patrick blinking behind him.

Okay maybe Ray would take a _lot_ of getting used to.

Patrick checked his watch. It was almost nine. As good a time as any to try to track down David Rose.

Patrick nodded a goodbye to Ray, who was already on the phone about something, before heading into town retracing his steps from the night before, reading through David’s business documents curiously as he went.

This time he stopped for a moment in front of Rose Apothecary to peer in through the storefront.

The lights were off, but he could see products stacked on shelves, all labeled identically “Rose Apothecary” with a stylized rose. Flipping through David’s forms had told Patrick a lot about David’s business. He was impressed honestly. It was a really good idea, and if the market he was proposing panned out, it would be a really nice addition to the town.

But darkness in the store meant no David, so Patrick decided to pop into the Café before trying the motel. He only had a general idea of where it was, but the town was so small he was sure he could manage it if he needed to.

But luckily it wasn’t necessary, because the very first thing he saw upon entering the Café was David Rose seated at the same booth he’d sat at with his family the day before, wearing a different black and white sweater and staring intently at into a notebook, a cup of some kind of fancy coffee in front of him.

“Hi Patrick!” Twyla greeted him brightly. “Good to see you again!”

“Hi Twyla, thanks. Can I just get a tea? I have some papers to drop off with David.”

Twyla nodded at him, still smiling and turned away.

David didn’t look up at Patrick approached him, entirely absorbed in his notebook, probably something about the store.

“Hey David, you have a minute?” Patrick asked.

David looked up, startled, but then relaxed when he recognized him.

“Um, just a minute. Patrick, right?”

Patrick nodded and sat across from David. “I work at Ray’s. He sent me with some paperwork for you to sign before tonight. Congratulations by the way.”

The corner of David’s mouth turned up in an almost smile, but his face grew serious as he took the papers from Patrick and flicked through them.

“I feel like I should have signed this stuff weeks ago,” David commented distractedly.

Patrick nodded. “Yeah. Ray’s gotten a bit behind. That’s why I’m here. I’ll take care of everything.”

David offered him that same distracted half smile momentarily, before turning back to the forms.

“It’s a really good idea,” Patrick said after a moment.

David looked up at him, confused.

“The store,” Patrick clarified. “Your business model’s really inventive. I don’t know much about this town, but I could see a store like yours doing well almost anywhere.”

David smiled a little wider at the compliment. “Thanks. It’s been in my head for a long time.”

Before Patrick could reply, Twyla arrived with Patrick’s tea.

“Here you go!” she said with a smile, setting down the mug in front of him, before turning to David. “So are you ready for the big day, Mr. Business Owner?”

David gave Twyla a smile that was more of a grimace. “Yep,” he said, his words clearly forced. “So ready.”

Twyla grinned at him. “We’re all so excited to come tonight!”

David stared at her. “We?”

Twyla nodded, completely obvious to David’s concern.

“Yeah! My mom and her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s stepsons. And the cousins are all coming down, obviously.”

“Obviously,” David repeated, clear panic flashing behind his eyes, though Twyla seemed not to notice it.

“Well, I’ll see you tonight!” Twyla practically bounced away leaving an even more worried looking David across from Patrick.

“It’s a friends and family opening tonight, right? This must be a really close-knit community if you’re friends with all of Twyla’s cousins.” Patrick couldn’t help teasing a bit. David seemed stressed, and something about that just made Patrick want to wind him up a little bit more.

David glared at him. “I had a guest list. It was exclusive.”

“Well, whenever you make something exclusive, everyone just wants in,” Patrick replied with a shrug, the teasing glint still in his eyes. “I’m sure you’ll have a great time with Twyla’s mom’s boyfriend’s stepchildren.”

David groaned and threw his head in his arms as Patrick fought back a laugh.

“It’s good that everyone wants to come,” Patrick eased up finally. “It’ll be great publicity and increase brand recognition.”

David peeked out at him at that.

“No one would want to go to an opening for a store they weren’t interested in. Regardless of whether or not it was _exclusive_.” Patrick’s lips curled up into a smirk, but he hoped David understood that he was mostly serious.

David fully sat up again, an actual smile appearing on his face finally. “I guess you’re right. It’s just… it’s a lot.”

Patrick nodded, his sympathy genuine. “I bet.”

“I just need tonight to go well,” David continued, clearly needing to talk to someone, and Patrick just happened to be there. “I’ve put so much into this store, and if this opening isn’t perfect it’s all going to fall apart. My parents…” David trailed off, suddenly seeming to remember that he was talking to Patrick. He shook his head. “It’s just hard to be doing it all myself.”

“Tonight’s going to go great, David, I’m sure it will,” Patrick placated him. “And even if it isn’t perfect, it’ll be okay. I can’t imagine Twyla’s cousins are all that picky.”

“Oh you’d be surprised,” David replied seriously, but his face broke into an amused smile as he let out a breath that seemed somewhere close to laughter.

Patrick grinned himself, pleased to have somehow elicited a smile from David Rose when he’d been about to spiral into some kind of meltdown just a few minutes before.

David offered him a more sincere smile as he finally turned back to the forms Patrick had brought him. “You just need my signatures, right?”

Patrick nodded quickly. “That’s it. And I’ll submit them for you. Since it’s not your fault they’re so last minute.”

David frowned slightly looking up at him between scribbled signatures. “It’s not your fault either.”

Patrick shrugged. “I think you have more on your plate today than I have on mine.”

David let out a sigh and glanced down at the notebook in front of him. “You’re not wrong.”

“I should let you get back to it then,” Patrick said, taking the papers and standing up, but David stood too.

“I need to get going anyway. Lots to do.”

Patrick nodded and followed David out of the Café.

He was about to say goodbye to David again out on the street, when David called out to a dark-haired woman getting out of a car across the road.

“Stevie!”

The woman came over, her eyes flicking to Patrick momentarily.

“Sorry I’m late, things at the motel are crazy. Your dad-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” David cut her off. “You’re still gonna help me, right?”

“The rest of the morning, yes, and I’ll be back before the opening tonight.” Stevie seemed apologetic.

David sighed. “I guess that’s all we can do.”

“So who are you?” Stevie was addressing Patrick now.

Patrick introduced himself quickly, while David quickly filled in that Stevie owned the motel.

“Okay, well, I need to get back to Ray’s,” Patrick said after a moment, already feeling some of David’s nervousness returning as he and Stevie prepared to go get the store ready. “Good luck with everything, David,” he said as reassuringly as possible. “Don’t let Twyla or anyone get in your head. It’s gonna be great.”

“Thanks Patrick,” David replied softly with a small smile that made Patrick smile himself automatically.

Patrick turned away, but David’s voice stopped him.

“Oh, um, Patrick?”

He turned back around curiously.

David wasn’t quite meeting his eyes. “If you wanted to come to the opening tonight, that would be okay. It’s at seven.”

A smile spread across Patrick’s face quickly. “Does that make us friends or is this a more meaningful relationship, like Twyla’s-cousins level?” he asked, grinning unashamedly.

A delighted smile appeared on Stevie’s face, but David just shook his head. “We’ll see, Patrick.”

Patrick flashed one more smile at David and Stevie. “Looking forward to it. See you tonight, David. And nice to meet you, Stevie.”

Stevie was still grinning. “Nice to meet you.”

Patrick kept smiling the entire walk back to Ray’s.

The rest of the day Patrick spent unpacking boxes and organizing Ray’s files as best he could, only slipping out for an hour at lunch to buy groceries and grab food in Elmdale, the next town over.

True to his word, Patrick had submitted David’s forms as soon as he returned, but that was the easiest thing he did all day. Ray had very clearly just let things pile up, and Patrick knew it was going to take him a while to get things together properly.

The work was distracting half the time, but a lot of it was mindless filing that allowed his mind to wander, always back home to his parents, to Rachel. What was she doing right now, was she okay, when would she start texting him again – that was her move. Usually she held out for at least month, but with Patrick out of town it could be sooner. What would he do when he finally heard from her again?

And always there was the refrain in the back of his mind. _Why am I here? What am I doing? Was this all some huge mistake?_

At least the next day was Saturday. Maybe Ray knew some good hiking trails. That would make him feel like normal again. Or something.

Ray said goodbye to Patrick as he made a quick dinner in the kitchen around six, and Patrick headed back into town right around seven, not wanting to be late, but not wanting to be too early, since he and David really barely knew each other.

He made it to Rose Apothecary fifteen minutes after the store had opened, and there were already people milling around outside, the store clearly packed with people.

Patrick’s eyes went wide as he stepped inside. David really shouldn’t have been worried. Patrick had been impressed when he peeked in the window earlier, but standing inside the store was something different. It was beautiful from top to bottom. Patrick didn’t know anything about interior design, but he could tell when something was done well, and this certainly was.

But the best part wasn't the colors or the shelving or any of the displays. What Patrick liked most was how much of David he could feel throughout the entire place. He’d only had two conversations with David Rose, but Patrick could already tell that this was _his_. It made Patrick happy to see it, especially after their conversation at the Café that morning.

Patrick quickly found his gaze drawn to the man of the hour at the back of the store speaking to customers, gesticulating wildly as he made a point, his eyes darting around the store. Patrick could practically feel David’s mind whirring away, trying to think of a hundred different things at once.

Stevie was manning the register in a dark corner of the store, though she didn’t seem quite comfortable there and a line was already growing behind her.

Patrick spotted Twyla amidst a knot of people who looked a bit like her, the cousins no doubt, and she managed a wave and a bright smile at him before returning to group.

“No Alexis, I really can’t talk right now,” David’s voice carried over the crowd as Patrick moved more into the store. David was talking to the woman he’d been at dinner with the night before, his sister, who seemed upset about something.

“Ugh, David!” Alexis sighed and retreated to sulk in a corner.

David shook his head, clearly trying to center himself, but he was immediately interrupted by a couple of older women and a white-haired man.

Distracted watching David, Patrick found himself jostling a woman on the phone, older than him but younger than his parents. She shot him a glare even as he stumbled through an apology, returning to her phone call without a word.

“Yes, I’ll tell Moira and Bob what happened.” A pause. “No, I don’t think David will mind that you aren’t here.” Another pause. “Jocelyn, please don’t put Roland on the phone. I don’t- Roland, hi! Yes, we missed you today.”

The woman was swallowed up into the crowd, and Patrick didn’t hear any more.

He milled around a bit more, examining the products, feeling even more impressed with David than he had been before.

“Hey, you came!”

David’s voice jerked Patrick away from a display of something called “body milk,” which he was trying and failing to understand.

David was finally no longer surrounded by townspeople clambering for his advice, and the smile on his face was more natural than Patrick had seen the entire night.

Patrick grinned back. “Yeah. It felt pretty special to be invited to a ‘Friends and Family’ opening so I wouldn’t have missed it.”

David shook his head exasperatedly, but he didn’t lose his smile.

“This all looks really great, David. You should be proud.”

David glanced around for a moment, allowing himself to really take it all in. “Thanks, Patrick.”

Patrick started to say more, but David’s eye was caught by a frantic looking Stevie gesturing him over to the counter, so he flashed Patrick an apologetic smile before hurrying over to his friend.

The easy smile was gone from David’s face in a moment as he and Stevie had a rushed discussion behind the counter with lots of hand gestures from David and an increasingly impatient line waiting for pay for their products.

Patrick knew immediately that he wasn’t going to get to speak to David again for the rest of the night.

With a sigh, Patrick slowly moved back out through the store, a few different products catching his eye that he thought his mom would like. Maybe he would come back when David wasn’t so overwhelmed and shop then. He’d lose the discount that had prompted this frenzy, but Patrick didn’t mind supporting a local business.

He glanced back as he walked out the door. David had taken over the register, and it looked like Stevie was leaving.

Patrick hoped David would be okay with everything. David’s sister was probably still somewhere too if he needed help.

Patrick sighed as he left the store and started the walk back to Ray’s.

Maybe he could have a life here. Maybe he could make friends with David and Stevie or any of the other townspeople that had filled the store. But would it even be worth it? That was the real question. He’d hoped that leaving would help make him feel like he had control of his life again, like he wasn’t being put into boxes by Rachel or by his parents or by his hometown. This was supposed to be the start of the rest of his life or something cliché like that.

But few things were more isolating than being in a crowded room where everyone knew each other except for him. Patrick made friends easily, but he wasn’t sure he was cut out for creating an entire new life for himself.

He missed home.

He went to bed early that night, before Ray got back from Elmdale, making sure to set his alarm for 6:30AM, just in case Ray decided to barge in at 7 the next morning, even thought it was a Saturday.

Maybe tomorrow would help him figure out where he was supposed to be.

* * *

Patrick woke up the next morning to the approaching sound of singing once again.

“Then put your little hand in mine. There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb.”

Patrick groaned, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. Ray hadn’t even had the decency to pick a different song today. He glanced at his phone. 7AM. He must have slept through his alarm.

“I got you babe! I got you babe!”

Patrick’s door opened suddenly, Ray looking just as chipper as he had the day before.

“Rise and shine, Patrick! First day on the job!” Ray said cheerfully. “I’ll make you a nice breakfast. What would you like?”

Patrick furrowed his brow, confused. “You know I started yesterday, right Ray? And I thought I had weekends off…”

Ray looked at him strangely. “How could you have started yesterday when I haven’t even given you any of the paperwork yet? And of course you have weekends off, but it’s still Friday. The move must have thrown you off a bit, huh?”

Patrick stared at him. Yesterday was Friday. He’d moved on Thursday and yesterday was Friday. He glanced down at his phone to pull up the date for Ray, but he stopped short.

Friday June 19th. Clear as day on the lock screen. 7:05AM. Friday June 19th.

Again.


	2. we won't find out until we grow

“Come on Patrick, what would you like for breakfast on your first day of work?”

Patrick just stared blankly back at Ray. They’d done this before. The offer of breakfast. His first day of work.

Ray had to be playing some trick on him, though Patrick wasn’t sure how he’d managed to change the date on his phone.

“Pancakes, Patrick?” Ray asked, seeming more concerned now. “Maybe eggs?”

Patrick shook his head. “Cereal’s fine, Ray. I just need to shower.”

Ray looked a little disappointed in Patrick turning down his offer of a large breakfast, but he turned it around with a recitation of different cereals he had until Patrick finally managed to get him out the door so he could have a minute to breathe.

Ray was messing with him, and once he got out of the shower, they’d laugh about it.

It was a weird joke to play on him, but Patrick figured it was just another Ray quirk he’d have to get used to.

Except when Patrick finally did make it downstairs, there was no laughing Ray, no camera like he was on a prank show, no acknowledgement that Ray was anything but serious with this being Patrick’s first day. There was just Ray bringing out cereal and milk and chatting about the town, exactly like he’d done yesterday.

And after breakfast things only got stranger.

The desk Ray had piled with papers the day before was empty.

The drawers Patrick had spent hours carefully organizing were no longer labeled in his neat handwriting.

The Rose Apothecary forms that Ray handed him were again unsigned.

And Patrick’s phone still stubbornly insisted that it was Friday.

Patrick walked to the Café again, looking all around him for any sign that things were different, but the streets were just as empty as they’d been when he’d walked the same path yesterday morning.

He opened the door the Café and there was David once again. Same black and white sweater. Same notebook. Same preoccupied look on his face.

“Hey Patrick! Good to see you again!”

Patrick tried to return Twyla’s smile. “Yeah. Hey Twyla.”

“Can I get you anything? It’s your first day over at Ray’s right?”

Patrick stared at her. _Twyla_ thought it was yesterday too? “I guess it is,” he said helplessly.

“Um, Patrick? Coffee?” Twyla was looking at him funny now.

Patrick didn’t blame her. “Uh, tea, please. Thanks.”

Twyla nodded at him quickly, her eyes flicking over him quickly as though trying to figure out just what wasn’t right about him.

Patrick sighed and made his way over to David’s booth.

“Hey David, I need you to sign these.” He had to stop himself before he added an “again” to the end of the request.

David looked up at him, startled. “Oh. Patrick, right?”

Patrick nodded. “Yep. These are from Ray.” He set the forms down in front of David.

David stared at him at for a moment before flipping through the pages. “I feel like I should have signed all this stuff-”

“Weeks ago, yeah,” Patrick interrupted. “Ray hasn’t exactly been _on_ the paperwork.”

David almost smiled at that before he refocused on the forms in front of him.

“So I need to submit all this stuff today?”

Patrick could hear the stress in David’s voice, and he felt a sudden urge to help him, in spite of his own insane situation.

“I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry,” Patrick reassured him.

David’s shoulders sagged with relief for a moment. “Thank you.”

“No problem. You look like you have a lot on your plate.”

David nodded. “It’s been… well it’s a lot.”

Patrick offered him a reassuring smile. “I’m sure the opening will be fine, David.” Patrick had already _been_ to the opening after all.

David sighed and leaned back in the booth. “Well you can say that. I’m less sure.”

“Here you go!” Twyla offered a tea to Patrick where he was standing before turning to David. “So are you ready for the big day, Mr. Business Owner?” she asked brightly.

Twyla’s question was, once again, followed by the reveal that half of her family was attending the opening, requiring Patrick to calm David down again, though he was definitely more distracted than he’d been when they did it yesterday. Each event that repeated from the day before increased the chances that this wasn’t a joke or a dream or something, and Patrick didn’t know what to do if it wasn’t.

Patrick met Stevie outside the Café, again, and David invited him to the opening like he’d done the day before, only this time Patrick didn’t manage to joke back to him.

Patrick spent the afternoon flipping through the same paperwork he’d already gone through, buying groceries at a store he already sort of knew the layout of now, grabbing lunch from a shop in Elmdale that he remembered the menu from.

When he finally left Ray’s to walk into town, the opening was in full swing.

Patrick just stared at the packed store.

This was real. He’d already lived this entire day before. He’d been to this opening. He recognized the woman answering her phone as she walked inside as the same woman who had glared at him the previous day. It was all the same.

Some small part of him had still been holding out hope that Ray and David and Twyla were playing some elaborate trick on him, but this was the entire town, all of Twyla’s many, many cousins… this was real. The entire day had happened a second time.

Patrick turned and walked quickly back to Ray’s, not even bothering to put in an appearance at David’s opening. Patrick was freaking out.

 _It could still be a dream. It could still be a dream._ It felt too real and too boring to be a dream, but that was all Patrick had left to cling to.

He had to be logical here. He stopped and took a picture of the file boxes on his desk, a record that he’d started work already. Tomorrow morning, he could open his phone and see that picture and even if Ray was pretending it was Friday again, Patrick would know it wasn’t.

It was just a weirdly specific dream or else Ray was a lot trickier than Patrick had given him credit for. There was no possible way this was real. That’s what Patrick told himself over and over as he lay awake that night.

Everything would be okay tomorrow.

Assuming there would actually be a tomorrow.

* * *

Patrick woke up to Ray singing down the hallway.

He bolted upright, grasping for his phone hoping against hope that he wouldn’t see what he thought he was going to see.

Friday June 19th.

He felt like he’d been punched in the gut.

He opened his camera roll frantically to look at the picture of his desk, but it wasn’t there. The last pictures were the forms he’d sent to Ray before moving in. There was no record of the previous day existing at all.

Patrick collapsed back on his bed, throwing his head in his hands. What was he going to do?

“Rise and shine Patrick! First day on the job!”

Before Ray could even offer him breakfast, Patrick was out the door and into the bathroom, ignoring Ray’s muffled questions through the door.

Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong.

Eventually Patrick did have to leave safety of the bathroom and go downstairs to find a very concerned and a little offended Ray offering him food, and then, when Patrick still didn’t say anything, questions about his health.

“Patrick? Are you feeling well?”

Patrick shook his head. “No. No, I need… I need to go.”

“Go where?”

Patrick threw up his hands. “Anywhere. Literally anywhere.”

“Well perhaps you could go into town? There’s some papers you need to get signed.”

“By David Rose, I know,” Patrick groaned.

Ray raised his eyebrows at him. “What a lucky guess! Yes, by David Rose.”

Patrick sighed. “Just give them to me.”

Ray seemed put off by Patrick’s demeanor, but Patrick didn’t care anymore. He grabbed his wallet and was out the door as quickly as possible.

The walk to the Café was getting to be second nature by this point, as was seeing David sitting by himself at his booth.

He brushed off Twyla’s greeting with a wave and the most polite smile he could muster (he was pretty sure it wasn’t very polite, but this was his third time doing this and his ability to be polite was wearing thin).

“David, I need you to sign these.” Patrick unceremoniously dropped the papers down on top of David’s notebook.

David looked up at him confused, his face relaxing only the slightest bit when he recognized Patrick. “Um, Patrick right?”

Patrick nodded. “Yup. And Ray never had you sign these forms, so you need to do it now.”

David’s eyes flipped down to the papers in front of him. “Oh. Oh, okay.”

“Sorry it’s last minute,” Patrick threw in an apology that he knew didn’t sound all that sincere, but there was only so many times he could have this conversation… at least he hoped so.

“That’s… that’s fine…” David’s brow was furrowed but Patrick could tell his confused was directed at him far more than it was directed at the forms Patrick had brought.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Twyla walking over, which Patrick knew would result in David spiraling again, and Patrick needed to get out of here.

As soon as David recapped his pen after signing the last form, Patrick picked the stack of papers up and practically sprinted out the Café, calling a “good luck at the opening” behind him.

He quickly submitted David’s forms back at Ray’s and then he was out the door, no explanation, no response to Ray’s calls that it wasn’t lunchtime yet.

He needed to get out of Schitt’s Creek.

That was the problem; it _had_ to be. Life had been fine before he came here. Well not fine, but he wasn’t reliving the same day over and over again, so it was certainly better than whatever this was. He’d clearly made some kind of mistake.

He should go home. That was the obvious answer. Back to his mom and dad and maybe even back to Rachel. He could tough it out, get married, do the whole two point five kids, white picket fence thing. Sure it made him sick to his stomach to think about, but the universe was practically screaming at him that he’d made the wrong choice in coming to Schitt’s Creek, so what he’d left behind had to be the answer… right?

But Patrick found himself making a turn at an intersection instead of following the main road that would eventually lead him back home. He didn’t want to be in Schitt’s Creek. But he didn’t want to be back home either.

So he just drove.

He drove for as long as he could, stopping only to get gas before continuing on. It didn’t matter where he was going; he just needed to put as much distance between himself and Schitt’s Creek as possible. He grabbed snacks from convenience stores instead of stopping for actual meals. He cycled through endless radio stations playing all different kinds of music, anything so he didn’t have to listen to the thoughts in his head.

He knew his parents wouldn’t call, because they’d never called the other days. And Rachel wouldn’t text him, because she’d never texted him. Ray, on the other hand, texted a couple times and called once, but Patrick didn’t answer.

All he could hope was that he ended up far enough away from Schitt’s Creek that tomorrow morning he could wake up to a new day and reassess from there.

Eventually he found some crappy roadside motel to stay at for the night, and he finally collapsed onto his bed, carefully setting an alarm for 6:30, taking a picture of a pad of paper with the motel’s name and address on it, and praying to anyone who was listening that he would still be here when he woke up.

* * *

“Then put your little hand in mine!”

Ray’s voice woke Patrick, but he lay frozen in bed, unable to move. He couldn’t escape from this. There was nothing he could do.

Patrick could barely manage a groan when Ray burst through the doorway a moment later to encourage him to get ready for his first day of work and offer him breakfast.

“Not a morning person, eh Patrick?” Ray said with a grin. “Some nice bacon and eggs will help wake you up. And coffee perhaps?”

Patrick couldn’t even manage to request tea instead.

He felt paralyzed almost. Weighed down by something he couldn’t put into words. He managed some deep breaths, but Ray calling up to him to ask how he wanted his eggs was enough to make those breaths shallow.

He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t live through this day again.

Eventually he did manage to sit up and throw on some jeans and a shirt, not bothering to shower because what was the point really. He picked at his breakfast while Ray spun around him with facts about the town and his businesses and jokes about how Patrick needed to get to bed earlier, until Patrick was finally out the door, papers for David in hand, though he didn’t quite remember how it happened.

Stepping into the Café, the same way it had been for the last three days, was almost too much, but David looking up at him with that faint recognition once Patrick gave him the forms was the breaking point.

“I… I have to go.” Patrick didn’t bother looking back, he just ran out of the Café and kept going until he was out of the town center on a side street. He sat on the ground against the wall of some building and curled up into a ball, his arms hugging his knees as he tried to breathe, dry sobs catching in his throat.

He was stuck here forever. He was going to live this day over and over again for the rest of his life, and he didn’t know why. There was no way he could do this.

It was important to Patrick that he be in charge of his own life. He didn’t need to control anyone else’s life, but he always needed to know that he had some say in his own. That was why he’d broken up with Rachel. That was why he’d left home to come here. But this was something he couldn’t control.

“Hey Patrick? Are you okay?”

Patrick hadn’t heard any footsteps approach, so his head flew up at the voice.

He was met with the sight of a very confused-looking David Rose staring down at him.

Patrick opened his mouth, but he couldn’t get any words out.

“You’re having a panic attack, right? Those are real, if you didn’t know.”

Patrick squinted up at David. “Yeah, I know,” he managed weakly. “You… you might be right…”

David glanced around for a moment, before sighing and sitting down gingerly on a low retaining wall next to where Patrick sat on the ground.

“You need to breathe, Patrick,” David insisted.

Patrick almost rolled his eyes, but one look up at David’s face told him that he was being serious.

“Deep breaths. In and out.”

Patrick just nodded and did as David asked, closing his eyes for a moment and letting his lungs expand and contract. In and out. Deep breaths.

“That’s better.” David’s voice was soft but a little unsure. “Did… did that help?”

Patrick nodded. “Yeah. I just… I guess… I don’t know.”

“It’s okay.” David was looking down at him, but Patrick could tell his eyes were distant. “I had a panic attack when I first moved here too. I couldn’t sleep for days. It was such a big change so quickly. I couldn’t handle it.”

“I’m sorry, David,” Patrick said, his breathing returning to normal, his arms hanging less tightly around his knees.

David shook his head. “It’s fine. That was a while ago. Things are… they’re better now.”

“I’m glad.”

David flashed him a small smile, but the furrow in his brow returned. “Are _you_ okay though? I’ve never seen anyone run out of the Café so fast before, and you hadn’t even eaten anything.”

Patrick laughed weakly. “I’m… It’s just been a weird day. Couple of days,” he amended quickly.

David nodded. “Yeah, it’s hard just moving here. Maybe you should take some time to yourself to settle in before you get all caught up in Ray’s stuff. You need to kind of keep quiet and try not to do things that stress you out. That’s what Ted told me when I went to see him when I was having mine.”

Patrick frowned slightly. “Oh, I didn’t realize there were any doctors in town. Ray mentioned the nearest ones being in Elmdale.”

David grimaced. “There aren’t actually any doctors. Ted’s… um… the vet.”

Patrick could feel the smile spreading across his face as he sat up more to get a better look at David. “Ah. Well we all know veterinarians are panic attack experts.”

David held his head up indignantly. “Ted’s advice was actually pretty helpful. I ended up going to yoga to relax, and it was the best I’d felt since we got here.”

Patrick thought for a moment. “Hiking might work,” he mused out loud. “That might make me feel more normal.” _It certainly couldn’t hurt_ , he added in his head.

David gave him an odd look but shook his head. “I guess you do look like someone who’d be into _hiking_.” David said the word like he thought it might infect him.

“I take it you’re _not_ the person to ask about hiking trails then, David?” Patrick asked, teasing.

David rolled his eyes. “Obviously not. But Ted actually might know about that. Alexis – er, my sister – she mentioned him going hiking a couple times.”

“That’s helpful, David, thank you,” Patrick replied genuinely. “I’ll have to go by and see him tomorrow.”

 _There is no tomorrow_ , his still panicking mind supplied unhelpfully, but Patrick was able to avoid spiraling by focusing on David.

“Um, good. Well…” David seemed to be thinking hard about something. “Ray’s isn’t very calm is it?” he asked finally.

Patrick shook his head. He’d only known Ray for two days (or five, depending on the count he was keeping), but calm was not a word Patrick would ever use to describe him.

“Would you want to come by the store then?” David asked tentatively. “I have to get things ready for the opening tonight, but it should be quiet. I’m trying to cultivate a soothing and comforting shopping experience, and you could see if it really is the kind of oasis I’m envisioning.”

“So this isn’t really about helping me with my panic attack then,” Patrick replied trying to keep his face as neutral as possible, his eyes giving him away.

“It’s not _not_ about that!” David replied, flustered.

“Sure, David,” Patrick teased back.

David shook his head but stood, offering his hand to Patrick to help him up.

“So you’ll come to the store?” David asked again, quickly.

Patrick nodded. “Yeah. For a bit. Get a break from Ray.”

David’s face broke into the most open smile Patrick had seen since he’d met David.

Patrick couldn’t help but smile back.

He followed David back into the square and over to the Rose Apothecary building, David tapping at his phone quickly before he unlocked the door

The store looked different not entirely packed with people. David had been right about the atmosphere being calming. Patrick could tell that David was nervous about tonight, but the actual aesthetic of the store was serene. This was definitely a place where he wouldn’t mind spending some time.

“So, what do you think?”

Patrick glanced over at David who was watching him nervously, trying to gauge his reaction.

Patrick smiled instantly. “I feel more relaxed already.”

David rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t mask the grin that spread across his face. “Good.”

David quickly busied himself with the list of tasks that Patrick knew lived in his notebook, while Patrick hopped onto the counter taking it all in.

It should have been more stressful listening to David rummage around through the stockroom, letting out a curse every so often as he accidentally dropped something or realized he didn’t have enough of something else. Really, spending time with someone who was very clearly stressed out (and understandably so) was probably not the best move for someone trying to calm down after a panic attack.

But, instead, David’s quiet (and occasionally loud) nervousness was relaxing Patrick somehow. Just the presence of another person who had some understanding of what Patrick was going through (well not exactly, but as close enough as could be expected in the present circumstance) made him feel better. And something about _David_ specifically was enough to keep him calm.

When David emerged from the stock room to start unpacking some last-minute boxes, Patrick hopped down and started helping, brushing away David’s protests with a reassuring smile.

“I feel a lot better, David,” he insisted. “And having something to do will take my mind off things.”

David narrowed his eyes at him, but handed Patrick a box anyway, adding instructions for what needed to go where.

The pair worked in tandem for a while, Patrick unloading products from boxes into straight rows and David flitting around and handing him new ones every time he finished a task, answering Patrick’s questions about where he got this product from or what this product was used for or could he drink this (“it’s _body_ milk, Patrick,” came the reply to that question. “Anyone with a fiber of common sense would know you can’t drink it.”).

Patrick found himself having more fun than he’d had in a long time. David was smart, and he had a great eye for design. He knew what his vision for the store was, and he was willing to do anything to make it perfect. But, more than that, he was fun to be around. Fun to tease. Fun to watch get angry when Patrick “accidentally” left one jar of moisturizer turned logo-side in. Patrick’s initial impulse on his first night in town that he might like to be friends with David had been spot-on.

Eventually Patrick ended up restacking lip balms for David by the counter, his eyes wandering to some exposed wiring on the wall behind the counter.

He had a momentary memory of the night he attended the opening when Stevie was half-shrouded in darkness. “Oh, you need to get these lights installed, don’t you?”

David glanced over at him and followed Patrick’s gaze to the fixtures. “Fuck!” He quickly disappeared into the backroom, already pulling out his phone.

Patrick felt bad for pointing out the problem that David might not have even noticed, but he felt worse once David came back with the news that the electrician couldn’t get to town until tomorrow.

“It’ll be fine, David,” Patrick reassured him. “It’s just those lights, the rest of them will be more than enough for tonight.”

David leaned back against the counter. “I can’t do this. If I can’t even remember to call the electrician about something this important, I can’t run this store.”

Before Patrick thought about what he was doing, he reached out a hand and began running it up and down David’s upper arm, trying to calm the other man.

“You _can_ run the store, David,” Patrick said firmly. “Everything you’ve done here is amazing. And tonight’s going to be great. Maybe it won’t be perfect, but it’ll be good, and, more importantly, it’ll be _yours._ ”

David looked up at and allowed himself a small nod. “Thank you, Patrick,” he said softly.

“Of course.”

David shook his head and stood up, Patrick letting his own arm fall back to his side. “Ugh, sorry. You’re here so you can be calm, and me having my own breakdown isn’t going to help you.”

Patrick had to smile that. “I really think I’m okay now, David. Being here’s been really good for me, breakdown or no breakdown.”

David managed a small laugh and a tiny little smile as he returned to what he’d been working on before.

Patrick smiled too.

The bell over the door rang then, and in walked Stevie with a to-go container of food.

“So is this why you told me to come in now instead of this morning?” Stevie asked with a skeptical look at Patrick.

Patrick raised his eyebrows. He’d forgotten that Stevie usually had come in to help David at the store after he and David talked at the Café. David must have told her not to come before they got there.

“Patrick, this is Stevie,” David introduced quickly. “And Stevie, this is Patrick who’s had kind of a rough morning, so I thought maybe it would be better if he could have some quiet time at the store without your input.”

Stevie glared at her friend. “I literally just brought you lunch, and I offered to help you so much today, so you should really be a lot nicer to me than you’re being right now.”

Patrick tried to cover his laugh with a cough, but the grin on Stevie’s face told him that he hadn’t done a very good job of it.

“So Patrick, what kind of ‘rough morning’ led to you rearranging lip balms?” Stevie asked pointedly.

Patrick felt his face go pink slightly at the implications of David’s phrasing, but he fought through it. “David just meant that he found me having a panic attack across the street from the Café.”

The teasing glint in Stevie’s eyes disappeared immediately. “Oh. Oh, um, sorry.”

Patrick smiled at waved her apology away. “It’s fine. David’s been really helpful. He gave me some advice about relaxing that he got from the _vet_ so.”

Stevie’s grin was back in full force. “We did have a good trip to the vet, didn’t we David?”

“Oh you were there?” Patrick asked, enthusiastically.

Stevie nodded. “I was the one who brought him in. I wish we could have sprung for the pet psychologist, but we’re a little lacking in some things here.”

Patrick nodded sympathetically. “Sometimes we have to make sacrifices.”

“So I really am not a fan of this,” David gestured between Patrick and Stevie, clear annoyance on his face.

“But David, this is helping Patrick relax,” Stevie intoned.

Patrick nodded quickly. “It is, David. Most relaxed I’ve been all day. Just totally chilled out.”

David glared at him, but Patrick could see his façade starting to slip.

Patrick turned back to Stevie and flashed her a grin which she returned.

He looked at his watch with a sigh. He needed to get back. “As much as I hate to miss this – which is really a lot – I do have to get back to Ray’s.”

“Oh, right. Paperwork.” David quickly slipped into the back and returned with the forms that Patrick had given him that morning, signing them quickly before handing them over. “Unless you need me to submit them.”

Patrick shook his head. “I’ve got it. You just focus on the opening.”

“You’ll come back for that, won’t you, Patrick?” Stevie said eagerly.

Patrick turned to David. “Well, I haven’t actually been invited. I heard it’s friends and family only, so…”

David rolled his eyes. “Yes, you can come, Patrick.”

“That doesn’t really sound like you _want_ me to come though, David. I really don’t want to come somewhere I’m not wanted.”

David glared at him. “Or don’t come! It doesn’t matter to me!”

Patrick held up his hands in surrender. “Okay. Won’t see you tonight then.” He turned to Stevie as he turned to leave. “Good to meet you, Stevie.”

“You too, Patrick,” she said, grinning. “I hope you’ll change your mind about tonight.”

“Ball’s in David’s court now,” Patrick replied.

“I don’t know what that means,” David said, confused.

Patrick just laughed and opened the door.

“Fine!”

Patrick turned back around, his eyebrows raised.

David sighed. “Patrick, I would like it very much if you came to the opening tonight.”

Patrick’s face spread into a wide grin. “Why, thank you David. I might have to pass though. Ray was talking about bingo in Elmdale that seemed just too good to miss.”

David just glared at him.

“I’ll see you tonight, David,” Patrick said finally with a wink, before finally leaving the store, Stevie’s laughter echoing behind him.

Patrick showed up to the opening that night earlier than he had the first time he’d gone, assuming that David might need some help, even if he hadn’t asked for it. He was met with a long line and when he hesitated too long near the head of it, a very rude woman Patrick had never seen before yelled at him, so he retreated to the back, feeling a little bad he wasn’t inside helping David and Stevie.

The line started moving and after some shuffling (and a little bit of shoving – Patrick had been right to come late the last time he’d actually gone to the opening), he finally made it inside.

Things were a little more frenzied than the last time he’d come to the opening, since it was earlier, but Stevie wasn’t swamped at the register yet, so Patrick was able to check in with her.

“Everything got done?”

Stevie seemed a little keyed up, but she nodded. “Well, everything but the lights, but you knew about that.” She pointed up at the fixtures above her head with a shrug. “David’s been a nightmare for the last hour though. Furious about how many people are coming. I let it slip that Twyla was bringing a million people, and I think it broke him.”

Patrick looked out to where David was being mobbed by a white-haired man and several middle-aged women.

Stevie wrinkled her nose. “I’m sure whatever Bob’s asking him over there can’t be good.”

As if on cue, David’s face morphed into a grimace before he took a breath and schooled his features into a more appropriate thoughtful expression.

Patrick snorted a laugh behind his hand as Stevie grinned beside him.

“I like you,” she said, sizing Patrick up for a moment. “David needs someone else to call him on his bullshit. And maybe not the way his family does it.”

Patrick caught sight of Alexis then, her eyes downcast as she sought out her brother.

Actual paying customers finally started approaching the register, so Patrick shot Stevie a wave and let her get to work, though he could tell that her customer service grin was extremely forced.

Twyla spotted him like she’d done last time, but tonight she came over.

“Hey Patrick!” she leaned in and lowered her voice, looking around furtively. “Are you okay, like from earlier?”

Patrick nodded quickly. “Yeah, just feeling a little overwhelmed. David helped me out.”

Twyla grinned at him, leaning back out of his space. “Oh good. He seemed worried when you just took off. I’m glad you guys got a chance to hang out.”

Patrick’s eyes fell on David as he tried to brush off his sister. “Yeah, me too.”

Twyla slipped away back to her family, leaving Patrick to watch Stevie fake laugh through a conversation with a customer, distracting him enough for the woman on the phone to run into him and glare at him again.

A laugh startled him as the woman walked away.

“That’s Ronnie. She usually only reserves that glare for Roland when he says something really offensive; you must have really upset her.”

Patrick turned around to see David who had clearly left a conversation just to come talk to him. Patrick smiled at the thought.

“I was distracted laughing at Stevie dealing with customers, and I ran into her,” Patrick explained quickly. “I didn’t think it was too bad. I mean I apologized and everything.”

David’s face broke into a wide smile. “I know. I watched the whole thing.”

“Well maybe put in a good word for me when you talk to her,” Patrick said, feeling a little uncomfortable that anyone would dislike him before they even met him.

David just shook his head almost fondly.

“Everything looks really great, David,” Patrick said with a smile of his own.

David looked around almost shyly, pride clear on his face. “Thanks for helping, Patrick.”

Patrick rolled his eyes. “I unpacked some boxes. _You_ built this.”

David’s smile was soft, and his eyes were inviting. Patrick found himself drawn to them, though he wasn’t quite sure why.

David was quickly swept away by customers until Stevie frantically waved David over behind the register in response to some emergency.

This time, Patrick followed.

“I have to get back,” Stevie was saying, her eyes worried as she looked around for her things. “It could destroy the room, and your dad’s freaking out.”

David waved her away. “Just go. I got it. It’s fine.”

He moved to go to the register, but Patrick stopped him.

“Can I help, David?” he asked quickly. “I’ve worked a register before. I can handle it.”

David stared at him, wide-eyed. “You’d do that?”

Patrick smiled at him. “Of course, David. Easy.”

Stevie mouthed an emphatic “thank you” behind David as Patrick slipped around to the other side of the register and immediately started ringing people up, inclining his head back to the sales floor to encourage David to go back out and help customers.

David still seemed a little dazed by Patrick’s offer, but soon he was back answering questions, and Patrick was making small talk with townspeople that he hadn’t met yet. He learned that Bob, the white-haired man who had horrified David, was married to Gwen, one of the middle-aged women. Twyla talked his ear off about something and introduced him to at least 5 family members who Patrick mixed up immediately. He received another glare from Ronnie who barely said two words to him and seemed annoyed just because he was helping David.

Eventually the store emptied out, and he and David were left alone.

“You did it, David!” Patrick said excitedly, coming out from the darkness by the register to offer David a hug. “Congratulations, man!”

David just stared at him as they broke apart, a wide smile on his face. “You saved the day, Patrick. Thank you.”

Patrick was taken aback by the sincerity in David’s words.

“It was nothing, David. Really.”

David shook his head. “This was not nothing. Just… thank you. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m really glad you had a panic attack today.”

Patrick laughed and shook his head. “I’m kind of glad I did too.”

David’s smile softened as she stared at Patrick, but then he shook his head. “Right. Um. I should let you get back to Ray’s. You’ve done more than enough.”

Patrick smiled back. “Well, just let me know if you need anymore help. I’m good on the cash register, and I’m also a business liaison, so if you need any help with anything else.”

David glanced around for a moment. “I… I might take you up on that, maybe.”

“Well let me give you my number, in case you need it,” Patrick quickly grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper from the register and wrote it down, making a mental note to get some professional business cards.

David took it from him with another deep breath. “Well thank you. For this. For… for today.”

Patrick bumped David’s forearm with his elbow. “You’re the one who calmed me down from my panic attack. I think we’re even.”

David nodded and looked away.

“Goodnight, David.”

David turned back to him, a look on his face that Patrick didn’t quite recognize. “Goodnight, Patrick.”

Patrick slipped out through the door to walk back to Ray’s, feeling happier than he had in weeks.

His phone buzzed with a text.

He glanced down and read it quickly.

**This is David. Just in case you need my number for any locally sourced product related emergencies.**

Patrick laughed to himself and shook his head.

**Thanks, David. I actually didn’t get to buy anything tonight, so maybe I’ll need to take you up on that.**

**I can probably put together some stuff for you** , came the reply. **As a thank you for helping out tonight. Come by the store tomorrow?**

**I will. Thanks.**

It was only after he sent the message that Patrick remembered.

There was no tomorrow.

When he saw David tomorrow at the Café, he would have no memory of this day they’d spent together. He wouldn’t remember Patrick’s panic attack or joking around with Stevie or Patrick manning the register, let alone that he should put together a thank you present for Patrick.

Patrick had felt trapped in this day that repeated over and over from the beginning, but this was the first time he was really going to miss something.

_Someone._

David.

That night as Patrick got changed and slipped into bed, his thoughts for once were not back at home with his parents and his ex-fiancée, but with a dark-haired man across town who given Patrick the best day he’d had in months.

There was something about David.

Patrick just wished that he’d be able to remember in the morning.

* * *

Patrick woke, once again, to Ray singing down the hallway.

He sighed, resigned, and pulled out his phone, briefly noting the same date as the last four days, before clicking open his messages, trying and failing to hope that David’s last message ( **No problem** with an understated smiley face) would be there.

But it wasn’t. Of course it wasn’t.

Patrick lay back on his mattress for the last few seconds before Ray burst in.

He would just have to make friends with David all over again. He could handle that.

There were worse things to do with his time.


	3. I guess that's so, we don't have a plot

The next morning at Ray’s was much nicer than the previous few as Patrick actually made plans for the day, Ray’s repeated chatter washing over him.

He would meet with David first, of course. He couldn’t help out at the store if they didn’t have a good first interaction at the Café, and David definitely needed help at the store. And then he wanted to find the vet, Ted, who David said knew where to go hiking around here. Just the prospect of a long trek up a mountain, or whatever they had around here, was enough to help Patrick calm down.

If he ended up stuck in this loop for a long time ( _forever_ , the panicked voice from yesterday supplied before Patrick could silence it), he would need an escape for when things got to be too much. As positive as the eventual results of Patrick’s panic attack yesterday had been, he would ideally like to avoid another one.

So Patrick chatted with Ray, grabbed David’s paperwork, and headed into town.

David was in his booth like he always was, and Patrick tried to balance out his teasing with reassurance, since this wasn’t the David he’d spent the majority of yesterday with.

Patrick must have been successful because David offered him an invite to the event, which Patrick pretended to think about for a minute before accepting and then offering his help if David and Stevie ended up needing anything.

_Which you will_ , he noted in his head as he went back to Ray’s to file David’s forms.

He headed into town again a couple hours later with a see you later to Ray in search of the vet clinic. He had a vague idea where it was, but it wasn’t like the town was all that big.

He found the place pretty easily and walked into an empty waiting room, just a receptionist engrossed in some large book.

A receptionist who happened to be Alexis Rose.

Alexis looked up when Patrick entered, her brow furrowing like she was trying to place him.

“Um, hi, you don’t have an appointment, right?” she said glancing down at a calendar in front of her. “I was pretty sure we were done for the morning.”

“Oh, nope,” Patrick said quickly, putting his hands up. “I’m actually new in town, and I heard the vet – Ted, right? – might have some good ideas for hiking trails in the area.” Patrick paused for a moment. “That sounds weird, but small towns, right?”

Alexis stared at him oddly but then her eyes widened.

“Oh! You were talking to David at the Café last night, that’s why I recognize you.”

Patrick laughed. “Yeah. Um, I’m Patrick. You’re Alexis, right?”

Alexis beamed and held out her hand. “Yes! It’s nice to meet you, Patrick. So what are you in town for?”

“You mean besides hitting up vet clinics for hiking recommendations?” he asked with an easy smile.

Alexis laughed, perhaps a bit more than was necessary. She was almost definitely flirting with him, which was flattering, but he didn’t think he was interested. Alexis was very pretty, certainly, but he was in the middle of a personal crisis. And he’d feel weird flirting with David’s sister, even if David technically barely knew him today.

But flirting or not, Alexis was definitely much happier here than she’d been either of the times he’d seen her at David’s store opening.

“I’m working at Ray’s,” he settled on. “New town business consultant.”

Alexis’s eyes lit up. “Seriously? Do you think you could maybe help me with this?” She gestured down at what upon closer inspection appeared to be a high school economics textbook.

Patrick shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

It quickly came out that Alexis was taking high school classes to get her degree so she could start taking some college classes and maybe go into media or public relations. She was enthusiastic as she asked Patrick questions about an exam study guide, but she definitely needed some help, and Patrick was glad to be of assistance.

They were interrupted by the arrival of a man from the back of the clinic who Patrick hadn’t seen yet.

He was a handsome guy, Patrick had to admit, but the look of longing on Alexis’s face the moment he came out into the waiting room was far more than a receptionist ogling a good-looking doctor. She _liked_ Ted. Maybe even more than that.

Patrick filed that information away for later.

“Oh, I thought I was finished for the morning,” Ted said, confused.

Patrick shook his head quickly. “Sorry, I was just here because I heard you might be the guy to ask about local hiking trails?”

Ted’s face lit up. “Oh yeah, man! For sure!”

Ted quickly started listing off his favorite places to go as Patrick wrote them down on his phone, Alexis going back to her homework. Out of the corner of his eye, Patrick noticed that Alexis was always focused on Ted, even as she flipped through her textbook. Ted, for his part, cast his eyes over to Alexis a couple times when she was more obviously absorbed in her work with a sort of longing of his own.

Patrick felt very aggressively like a third wheel.

Ted glanced down at his watch. “Oh, I have to run to meet Heather.”

Alexis visibly stiffened behind the counter, though Ted didn’t seem to notice.

“But it was good to meet you, Patrick!” Ted continued through the door to the exam room as he hung up his lab coat and shrugged on a jacket. “You’ll have to let me know how the trails go and if you find any new ones.”

“I will, thanks.”

Ted left quickly, leaving Patrick with Alexis who seemed much more subdued than earlier.

“So Heather’s his girlfriend?” Patrick commented, raising his eyebrows.

Alexis blinked up at him, clearly putting on a brave face. “Um, yep! Or something. I’m not sure what label they’ve put on it. I mean, Ted and I haven’t talked about it. Obviously. Why would we talk about it?”

Patrick’s eyes grew wide as Alexis rambled.

“Would you maybe want to get lunch and talk about it with me?” Patrick suggested hesitantly. He certainly wasn’t the person to give relationship advice after how disastrously things had gone with Rachel, but he felt bad seeing how upset Alexis was.

Alexis stared at him for a moment. “Really?”

Patrick laughed. “Yeah, sure. You look like you need to talk to someone.”

Alexis let out a breath and came around the desk. “Ugh, Patrick. You’re so right.”

So over the course of their walk to the Café Alexis told him all about her relationship with Ted and someone named Mutt Schitt (which Patrick could not believe was a person’s real name) and then Ted again, eventually ending the saga as she sat across from him in a booth (not David’s) at the Café while they waited for Twyla to bring out their food.

“I’m sorry, Alexis,” was all he could manage as Alexis finished. “I know this must suck right now, and there’s not much you can do, but I know you’ll figure it out. Taking this job and going back to school and all that, it can’t have been easy. So I’m confident in saying that you’re strong enough to get through this.”

Alexis grabbed his hand across the table, squeezing it for a moment and then letting go as a smile grew across her face. “Thank you, Patrick. That… that means a lot.” She shook her head, her face returning to its usual happy mask. “And what about you then? A cute little button-face like you can’t be single.”

Patrick sighed deeply. He hadn’t thought about Rachel much at all for the past couple days, but Alexis had just barred her soul to him, so he figured he might as well return the favor.

“I actually just broke up with my fiancée a few weeks ago,” he said, not quite meeting Alexis’s eyes. “And then, on an impulse, decided to move here. We were together on and off since high school, so it was a pretty rough break up.”

“Oh my God, Patrick, I’m so sorry!” Alexis took his hand again.

Patrick shrugged. “It was for the best. It never felt right. I hadn’t really been happy in… a long time.” He knew Alexis wouldn’t remember this tomorrow, but it was nice to say the words out loud to someone who wasn’t actually involved. His parents hadn’t understood when Patrick said things weren’t right, but Alexis was just nodding along, fully supporting him. He hadn’t been happy. Really, yesterday helping David at the store had been the happiest Patrick had been in longer than he could remember.

“Well, I’m glad you ended up here,” Alexis said with a smile as she sat back up.

Patrick was going to return the sentiment when his attention was caught by a familiar man walking into the Café. He smiled automatically. Something about David always made him want to smile.

“Oh David!” Alexis called over to her brother.

David glanced over at her and then saw Patrick, seeming surprised but not unhappy to see him.

“So you’ve met my sister then?” David asked Patrick as he approached them.

Patrick smiled up at him. “Yep. Just trying to _really_ ensure that ‘Friends and Family’ discount tonight.”

David rolled his eyes. “If you had any good sense you’d stay away from Alexis for that.”

“Oh so who else do I need to buy lunch for to get the discount?” Patrick asked, his eyes glinting.

Instead of teasing back, David just blinked and took a half step back. “Oh, is this like a… date or something I’m interrupting?” He seemed almost disappointed.

Patrick shook his head quickly. “Nope. Just trying to make some friends in town, that’s all.”

Alexis looked at him oddly but then nodded. “Yeah, Patrick was just being such a sweetie letting me vent about Ted.”

Patrick saw something like relief flash across David’s face briefly before he grimaced. “Sorry about that, Patrick.”

“Hey!”

Patrick just laughed and shook his head. “I don’t mind. Like I said, I need to make some friends.”

“You must be pretty desperate then,” David said with a side glance at his sister who flipped him off.

“Well you were busy at the store,” Patrick replied with a shrug.

David smiled slightly, curiosity in his eyes as he looked over Patrick. “Well, if you wanted to come by before the opening and help out, I wouldn’t be opposed.”

Patrick raised his eyebrows. “See that doesn’t sound like friendship, it sounds like you want free labor.”

David just shrugged. “It’ll be better than listening to Alexis’s dating history.”

“Ugh, go away, David!”

David made a face at his sister but offered a tentative smile to Patrick which he returned immediately.

“I’ll come by – 6? 6:30?”

David seemed surprised that Patrick had actually accepted. “Um. Whenever? You really don’t have to.”

“I want to. We can be _friends_.” Patrick grinned into the last word.

David rolled his eyes and returned to the counter.

“Ugh David’s just ridiculous sometimes,” Alexis said, shaking her head. “You really don’t have to help him.”

Patrick just chuckled to himself, his eyes tracking over to David as he picked up food from Twyla, David’s eyes flicking back over to him a few times as he watched.

When David left the Café and Patrick finally returned his attention to the other Rose sibling, Alexis was staring at him thoughtfully.

“What?”

Alexis just shook her head. “Nothing. Just that’s the least stressed I’ve seen David in the last week. It’s good.”

Patrick smiled to himself. David hadn’t been stressed much the previous day either. Patrick didn’t know if he could attribute it all to himself, but Patrick hoped at least part of it was his fault.

Patrick and Alexis separated outside the Café, Alexis giving him a quick hug before she went back to work, thanking him for letting her talk and for being supportive.

Patrick just repeated that he was happy to help, which he was. It wasn’t quite as fun as the hours he’d spent helping David the previous day, but lunch with Alexis was a nice way to pass the time.

Patrick ended up back at the store around six-thirty, a line already beginning to form around the building which he narrowly avoided as he ducked into the store.

Stevie was a bit surprised to see him, but they quickly fell into teasing David, and Patrick volunteered to help her out at the register so David could easily deal with customers.

Before long the store was packed, but when Stevie got the phone call that sent her back to the motel, Patrick was able to step in without missing a beat, no David-freak-outs necessary.

Alexis flitted around the store like she usually did, only this time with a smile on her face and a few winks directed at Patrick as she talked up her brother’s products to townspeople. Ted had stopped in, which was different, but Alexis seemed to fall into an easy conversation with him, looking a lot more like one of his friends than a woman quite possibly falling in love with her ex-boyfriend. Patrick was proud of her really.

David was more relaxed without a moping Alexis, but Patrick could still see his nervousness, though even that faded over the course of the night. He threw smiles Patrick’s way every so often – sometimes grateful, sometimes surprised as he noted how crowded the room was, sometimes ones more like grimaces if he found himself trapped in a conversation with Bob or Gwen. But regardless, Patrick always smiled back. It didn’t feel right _not_ to smile at David Rose.

Locking up felt a little less personal than it had the night before, since Alexis was still there, happily perched at the counter commenting on everyone who’d come and making fun of Patrick for somehow offending Ronnie when he rang her up (Patrick genuinely had no idea how he’d managed to do it this time – he hadn’t run into her or anything).

“It’s crazy how much of Twyla’s family showed up,” Alexis considered. “No Roland or Jocelyn though. And Mom and D-”

“Don’t Alexis,” David interrupted, his expression far more clouded than it usually was around Patrick.

Patrick furrowed his brow. Now that he thought about it, it _was_ weird that David’s parents weren’t at the opening. He remembered there being something about David’s dad with Stevie’s motel emergency, but that was it.

Apparently it was bothering David.

“Well, I should get back to Ray’s,” Patrick said after a moment, feeling tension in the air between the Rose siblings that he didn’t need to pick at.

“Aw I’m so glad we met you today, Patrick!” Alexis said beaming. “You were like such a big help here today.”

David rolled his eyes. “Okay yeah we don’t need your commentary, Alexis.” But when he turned back to Patrick, his eyes were softer. “Thank you for this. Really. I don’t know what I would have done without you tonight.”

There was something in David’s eyes that Patrick couldn’t quite look away from. Some kind of sincerity and depth that Patrick already knew was unusual for David.

Patrick felt a sudden need for David Rose to look at him like that again.

“It was nothing, David. Really,” Patrick replied, trying to let David know just how much he meant it. “New friends, right?”

David’s eyes shallowed at that, but a small smile appeared on his face. “Yeah. New friends.”

Patrick laughed and left the Rose siblings with one last wave.

He found himself wishing he’d given David his number so he could text him on the way home. He wanted to talk to David more. He’d spent so much of the day with Alexis, but it wasn’t as nice as helping David at the store had been.

David was one of the most interesting people Patrick had ever met. Patrick knew that hearing Alexis’s romantic saga could get repetitive if he had too many days like this in the future, but calming down David Rose, all those smiles from across the store, listening to David freak out every morning about Twyla’s family… Patrick wasn’t sure he would ever get too bored of that. David was different. Predictable but also unpredictable. Like that bit of sincerity when David had thanked him with his eyes right before he left. Patrick had certainly not expected that.

Not for the first time, Patrick wondered vaguely why he was so hyper focused on David. He liked spending time with him, that was all, he decided. He needed a friend; it might as well be David. And if Patrick had to make friends with him all over again every single day, he really didn’t mind.

* * *

The days started to blend together after that. Patrick started every day at the Café with David. Usually this meant reassuring David about the store and trying to make the best of Twyla’s cousins, all while Patrick tried to get more information about David. There was so much he didn’t know about his new friend, and it was a bit of a challenge trying to find out new stuff when he was stuck in the same day over and over.

David almost always invited him to the opening, and easily the best days were the ones when Patrick offered to help out at the store and he got to spend time with David and sometimes Stevie too.

Some days were too much, and Patrick didn’t stick around for long after getting David’s signatures, instead going back to Ray’s and ducking out of work to go hiking on one of the many trails Ted had suggested. But those days weren’t too often. Sitting in David’s store for even half an hour was usually enough to calm Patrick down if things got too much for him to process.

But Patrick was also using his seemingly infinite time in this day to learn about the rest of the town.

He got lunch with Alexis from time to time, and even grabbed a drink with Ted in the local bar a couple times when he didn’t go to the store opening at all.

One afternoon Patrick picked up a different stack of paperwork than he usually did back at Ray’s and ended up with forms that needed to be signed by the town council, which led to a trip to town hall and a run-in with Ronnie who was unimpressed with Patrick, as usual.

This was also how Patrick officially met Mrs. Rose. She was fluttering around the building complaining that Roland, who Patrick had never met but knew as the mayor, was late coming into work when they needed him to approve some building plans and run the afternoon’s town forum.

Patrick had tried to calm her down like he always did with David, but she just called him Peter a couple times and brushed him off as Ronnie rolled her eyes.

Roland never did show up, so Patrick used the next day to discover that Roland had fallen off a ladder while cleaning out the gutters at his house, breaking a few bones and needing a trip to the hospital.

From that day on, Patrick passed by the Schitt residence in time to steady Roland’s ladder when it started slipping, which usually earned him some jokes from Roland and gratitude from Jocelyn. And on days when Patrick ended up back at town hall later that day, Roland would clap him on the back and talk about how Patrick had saved his life.

Ronnie, of course, did little more than raise her eyebrows as though she was surprised that Patrick had managed to help Roland, but Mrs. Rose actually sometimes remembered his name and Patrick counted that as a win.

Mrs. Rose was a sort of enigma to Patrick. He heard her proudly discussing her husband’s work at the motel with Roland, but when Roland brought up David’s store, she was definitely more hesitant. There was clear affection in her voice when she spoke about David, but something about the store was bothering her.

“Have you been by, Mrs. Rose?” Patrick asked conversationally one day after neither of the Rose parents had again shown up to the opening, which Patrick was gathering didn’t sit right with David.

“Oh no, Pe-atrick, _Patrick_ ,” she caught herself as Roland whisper-supplied Patrick’s name. “The façade is quite darling, but I’ve not made the jaunt inside yet myself.”

“Well you should,” Patrick said with a small smile. “David’s done a really wonderful job with the store.”

Mrs. Rose raised her eyebrows at him. “Haven’t you just arrived in town? How would you know that, pray tell?”

That day Patrick hadn’t technically been inside David’s store yet, but it was unlikely anyone was going to fact check him here. “I had to get David to sign some papers earlier, and he showed me around,” Patrick lied smoothly. “I was impressed.”

Mrs. Rose seemed to consider this before turning away. “I suppose I will have to take that plunge sooner or later.”

“The opening tonight, right?”

Mrs. Rose whirled back around, her eyes widening. “I was told this was just a friends and family affair. Don’t tell me that _you_ somehow secured an invitation, Pat?” (close enough – Patrick counted it as a win)

Patrick shrugged. “It was a thank you for taking care of paperwork more than anything. And I think David’s actually expecting a crowd. Or he’ll get one anyway, even if he’s not expecting it.” Patrick laughed to himself.

“Well, we shall see this evening then, won’t we?” Mrs. Rose said finally, leaving Patrick to talk with Roland and Bob.

Patrick was hopeful, but neither of David’s parents made it to the opening that night.

Roland and Jocelyn, however, were regular attendees now that Patrick had started preventing their repeated trips to the hospital.

“Patrick was talking up the store today, but I gotta say I’m impressed, Dave,” Roland said looking around nodding.

David flashed Patrick a confused but pleased smile behind the register, and Patrick just shrugged in response. David might not have any idea how invested Patrick was in this friendship, but Patrick really did care about him.

Then Jocelyn came over and asked if Mr. Hockley’s tea was actually marijuana, and things derailed from there as Patrick watched, gleeful.

Patrick had rung up the entire town through the check-out line so many times he could do it in his sleep, which left more time for him to watch David. He could recognize his annoyance on days that Alexis was mopey and his worry every time Stevie had to leave. He was even starting to pick up on the little hopeful moments when new people would walk into the store, and the resignation that replaced the hope once David realized that his parents weren’t going to show up.

A different set of Ray paperwork led Patrick to the motel some afternoons, where he got to know Stevie better between complaints about Ray and her observations about the Rose family that Patrick enjoyed immensely, even if he had to pretend he didn’t know nearly as much as he did about all of them.

He met Mr. Rose who was thrilled to talk motel finances with someone who was interested (at least to some extent, Patrick didn’t really have much going on otherwise anyway), and Patrick learned that the motel was just one room away from selling out for the first time ever.

“You must be proud of David then, with his new business,” Patrick said casually one afternoon.

Stevie perked up a bit at the mention of David’s name.

Mr. Rose smiled, but there was that same hesitancy he’d seen in Mrs. Rose’s eyes at the town hall. “Of course! We’re just a little, uh, nervous about how it’s going to turn out. David’s never done something like this by himself before.”

“Well I can say without a doubt that you guys will be impressed,” Patrick insisted. “It’s beautiful in there. David’s really made it special.”

Stevie narrowed her eyes at him from across the room, and Patrick remembered quickly that while he could usually talk up the store without consequence, Stevie would actually want to know where he’d gotten his information.

But Mr. Rose just smiled, considering. “Well hopefully we’ll be able to make it to the opening tonight. Things might get a bit overwhelmed here with so many guests and Stevie helping David at the store, but I’ll do what I can.” He nodded at Patrick and Stevie and then left the motel.

“So, Patrick,” Stevie said after a moment. “You haven’t actually been in David’s store yet. How do you know it’s beautiful?”

“Um, I looked in the window on my way into town this morning. And I read through his business plan, so I know that’s solid too,” Patrick explained hurriedly, not technically lying.

Stevie didn’t seem quite convinced.

Patrick sighed. “Well you can either believe that or I could tell you that I’ve been reliving this same day over and over and I’ve spent an inordinate amount of that time at Rose Apothecary.”

Stevie stared at him, thoroughly confused. “Is that supposed to be a joke? Not super funny, Patrick.”

“Well, it’s isn’t actually a joke. I’ve lived through this day probably thirty times now. At least.”

Stevie blinked at him. “Um, I’m just going to believe the first story if you don’t mind.”

Patrick shrugged. “Suit yourself.” But Patrick ended up helping out at the motel that entire afternoon, he and Stevie laughing over David Rose stories, Patrick throwing in some of his own from his many days spent with David. He could tell that Stevie wasn’t sure if he was crazy or telling the truth, but Patrick also knew that his David quotes were too on the money to be made up.

Eventually they were interrupted by David himself.

“So what’s this then?” David asked as he found the two of them in the seating area of the motel office.

“You seemed a little hesitant about letting me come to the store opening tonight, so I figured I’d try to chat up Stevie instead,” Patrick deadpanned back, Stevie snorting beside him.

David rolled his eyes. “Well I need you back at the store because the opening is in an hour and a half and you said you’d help,” he glared at Stevie before turning his attention to Patrick. “And I don’t know if I even _want_ you to come to the opening now.”

Patrick grinned at him, standing up to invade his space just enough to throw David off. “Oh, you do, David. I can help out. I’m not bad at the cash register.”

“Oh really?” David replied sarcastically.

“Yeah,” Patrick answered, his voice growing serious for a moment. “I want this night to go well for you, David. I’d like to help, really.”

David, as usual, seemed surprised by Patrick’s offer of help, but he gave Patrick a small smile, one that Patrick knew well, and a tentative “okay,” before he finally left the office to get ready.

Patrick smiled after him. He’d missed David today, since he’d only seen him at the Café. He turned back to Stevie who was staring at him as though she’d just been given a gift.

“Yes?”

Stevie’s eyes sparkled. “So if I’m going to believe you that you’ve actually been stuck in this day for weeks or whatever-”

“As you should,” Patrick interjected.

“Then how long have you had a thing for David?”

Patrick blinked at her. “What?”

Stevie rolled her eyes. “Come on, Patrick. You haven’t shut up about him the entire time you’ve been here today, and I have eyes. I saw whatever that was.” She gestured vaguely at the door where David had been. “I think he might be into it actually. I mean he’s like only just met you, but in the two times I’ve seen you interact today he’s seemed happier than I’ve seen him with practically anyone else lately. Especially anyone he just met.”

“But I… I just wanted to make him smile,” Patrick said slowly, thoughts racing through his hind.

Stevie groaned. “Gross. You can keep that to yourself.”

“But I don’t like guys, Stevie,” Patrick protested, beginning to pace back and forth across the office. “I mean David’s handsome, like objectively.” He remembered what his first thought had been when he saw David with his family across the Café what felt like ages ago. He’d thought David was beautiful.

Patrick felt himself start to spiral. “Obviously he has nice eyes and nice hair and I probably think about his smile more often than maybe I should, and yeah all my favorite days are the ones I spend with him, but that doesn’t… oh shit.” Patrick stopped pacing and looked down at Stevie. “I like David. Fuck, I _really_ like David.”

A wide, almost maniacal smile spread across Stevie’s face. “There it is.”

Patrick collapsed back on the sofa. “I know I’ve been preoccupied with the whole living the same day over and over again thing, but I feel like this is something I should have figured out a while ago. I mean like even _years_ ago.” He looked up at Stevie, his eyes wild. “I was with my very female fiancée on and off for since high school, and I just never knew why things didn’t work between us. God, Stevie. I’m an idiot.”

Stevie stared at him, wide-eyed. “Um. Okay. This took a turn. I really just wanted to mess with you, sorry. I don’t know if you’ve worked this out, but I’m _not_ the person for sincere emotional conversation. So…” She stood up. “It seems like you might need some time to process this yourself, so I’m… I’m gonna go. And maybe you should skip the opening tonight, and I can try to forget this insane conversation.” She said the last words in a low voice to herself, but Patrick could still hear her.

“But David needs me there.”

Stevie blinked at him. “Wow. You have _one_ gay realization, and now David _needs_ you.”

Patrick rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the blush spreading across his cheeks. “Not like _that_. It’s just that within the first half hour you’re going to get a phone call from Mr. Rose calling you back to the motel for some emergency, and I always have to take over the register.”

Stevie wrinkled her nose. “And then do you two just like make eyes at each other for the rest of the night? Ew.”

Patrick would never have described it that way before, but it wasn’t inaccurate.

Stevie sighed. “Well fine, come then. But maybe take tomorrow off?”

Patrick nodded, and the pair left to head to the store, the line just beginning to form as they arrived.

The night progressed like it usually did, only this time Patrick was fully conscious of how often David’s eyes flicked over to him and of just how often Patrick smiled at his friend.

His friend who he had apparently been falling for for weeks without knowing it.

Tonight it was just he and David as they closed up the store, and when Patrick gave David his number for “business help” as he often did, he was conscious of his previously unconscious motives. And judging by David’s little smile, his interest, whether Patrick was aware of it or not, wasn’t unwanted.

As Patrick walked back to Ray’s, texts from David keeping him smiling at his phone the entire walk back, he realized that what he’d said to Stevie earlier had been wrong. He’d told her that David needed him, but really it was Patrick who needed David. He was the only thing that was making living the same day over and over okay.

Except that Patrick couldn’t exactly do anything about this newfound revolution. Every day he was basically meeting David for the first time. It wasn’t exactly the best way to have a relationship.

Patrick sighed, feeling more discouraged than he had in a while.

That settled it. He was going hiking tomorrow. He had a lot to think about.


	4. but at least i'm sure of all the things we've got

Patrick didn’t hike just the next day. He hiked every day for the next week (more or less, it was hard to keep track of what actually constituted a week when every day was the same). There was a lot he needed to come to terms with.

He had feelings for David. Stevie’s revelation had demonstrated that in obvious fashion, but even quick conversations with David at the Café each morning drilled it into his head more firmly. He liked talking to David. He liked helping David out of store opening-related spirals. He liked seeing David smile. More than that, he liked _making_ David smile. This week spent alone inside his head was making Patrick miss the days spent with David at the store even more.

He was gay. That was a related, though separate, realization. It certainly made things in his past make more sense.Preoccupations with friends and teammates that he hadn’t ever thought twice about now made a lot more sense. And Rachel, that was the big one. There were definitely more than a couple reasons it had never worked between them – they really should have just stayed friends, they had genuinely been really great friends – but him being gay was the cherry on top.

He’d never felt right with Rachel.

But now… now sometimes he did feel right.

And those times when he did, he was smiling across a store at the most handsome man he’d ever seen, who was smiling right back at him. David made Patrick feel more like himself than he ever had, like all the confusing pieces in his head were falling into place finally after so many years. As much as he’d felt comfortable in the broadest sense back home, those moments with David made Patrick feel like he belonged here. He was meant to help David. And David was meant to help him.

Patrick half hoped that this realization would be the event that triggered the end to this time loop he was stuck in. There had to be a reason he was trapped here, and him figuring out this part of himself that he’d never understood seemed like a good a reason as any. But as Patrick stopped his daily gay realization hikes (as he had dubbed them) and went back to regular workdays and mornings spent with David, nothing changed. It was still the same day over and over.

Only now he was consciously and deliberately falling for David Rose.

Patrick handled this development by spending even more time with David. He spent nearly every day at the store, only trading off with an occasional lunch with Alexis where she inevitably ended up shooting meaningful looks between he and David once David interrupted them at the Café. Sometimes Stevie was there at the store when Patrick was helping out, but apparently he was being a bit too obvious with his feelings because now Stevie just rolled her eyes at him a lot when before she was usually just content to tease David with Patrick’s help.

Patrick had also started giving David his number at the Café in the morning, which meant he got to text with David even when he went back to Ray’s to file David’s paperwork or when he went off to save Roland from a trip to the hospital.

 **Just think what would have happened if I wasn’t there.** **Roland and Jocelyn would have missed the opening,** Patrick texted David after recounting the incident with the mayor.

 **…could I maybe ask you to go back and push Roland off the ladder yourself?** came the reply almost immediately.

Patrick grinned at his phone. He knew David was joking, but if David had actually been serious, there was a good chance Patrick might have actually done it.

Every day Patrick learned more and more about David, storing it all away for future use. There were little details like his coffee order and what he wanted for lunch. There was Patrick’s increasingly long list of things that would especially rile David up if Patrick teased him about them. Body milk Patrick had discovered back at the beginning, but he happily added the placement of the lip balms to the list after one particularly heated (from David’s end) argument when Patrick had experimented with a new layout for the counter entirely to mess with him. Teasing about clothes was less successful so Patrick never repeated his single attempt (he really liked David’s clothes anyway; the black and white zebra printed sweater David always wore to the opening featured prominently in Patrick’s thoughts), and teasing Stevie while sometimes incredibly rewarding could often backfire, so it was only to be pursued with caution.

But there were also deeper things. Patrick was picking up on David’s past little by little in casual remarks, trailed off sentences, silences that were more telling than words. David had been hurt before, and Patrick was determined to not let that happen again.

Patrick learned about David and Stevie’s past relationship that the pair shared identical grimaces when speaking about. A run in with a tall (and Patrick could now readily admit, attractive) man named Jake on an irregular trip into Elmdale with Stevie to get lunch after the pair of them had been particularly difficult for David all morning (the lunch was an apology of sorts, though Stevie had only come along because David had temporarily banned both of them from the store floor) got Patrick another story about David’s romantic historic in town that was worth it if only for the look on David’s face when Patrick asked him about it when they got back with his food.

The best times were the nights after the opening when he and David talked in the low light of few working overhead fixtures. David shared his hopes for the store, how nervous he was but how proud he was of every bit of this, Patrick encouraging him and reassuring him with every admission. There were things lurking in the background there that Patrick hadn’t discovered yet, some parts of himself that David hadn’t shared, including something with his parents who still had never made it to the opening. Patrick was just glad to be able to be there for David through whatever it was.

On one of these nights, Patrick asked David a couple questions about the store which led to David pacing around the floor stumbling his way through financial concerns and worries about how hard the actual business side of the store had been so far and how he wasn’t sure he was doing it right.

Patrick hopped off the counter where he’d been sitting watching David spiral and walked over to his friend, placing his hands on David’s shoulders to stop him from moving.

“Hey. You’re okay, David,” Patrick said, his words even and reassuring. “I looked over your forms this morning, and they were all filled out correctly. Your opening was an unqualified success. You’ve got this, David. Really.” Patrick squeezed David’s shoulders lightly before letting go. “And if you want any business help at all, I’m here. Grant money, spreadsheets, tax forms – anything you need.”

David looked up at him then, his eyes wide and open as he stared at Patrick. “You really mean that?”

Patrick nodded solemnly. “I do. Anything for you, David. Honestly.”

David just stared at him, and Patrick knew that this was his chance (and besides, if it went poorly, he had a million opportunities for a do-over).

He stepped fully into David’s space, his eyes dropping momentarily to David’s lips. He lifted up a hand to the back of David’s neck, savoring the feeling of his always so impeccable hair beneath his fingers. He leaned in slowly, allowing David the option to pull back, but David’s eyes fluttered closed, and he met Patrick halfway.

The kiss was brief, Patrick’s lips covering David’s for just a few seconds, but in that short moment, everything had changed.

There was still the unfamiliarity of a first kiss, but it was far outweighed by how _right_ it was. This was how a first kiss was supposed to feel. Soft, warm, inviting, like coming home. Just the hint of stubble against Patrick’s fingers as his hand moved to cup David’s cheek, reminding him that he was kissing David Rose and that he was definitely _definitely_ gay.

Patrick’s hand slipped from David’s face as they broke apart, Patrick breaking David’s gaze for a moment just to smile at the ground. He’d finally kissed David. And it had already been the best kiss of his life.

He glanced back up at David who was grinning at him almost bashfully.

Patrick couldn’t have kept the fondness from his eyes if he’d wanted to.

“Thank you, David,” Patrick said before the other man could say anything.

David stared at him, confused. “For what? I should be thanking you after everything you said… and did.”

Patrick felt his ears turning red at that, but he shook his head. “It’s just, I’ve never done that before, with a guy, and, um, I’ve kind of wanted to do that with you all day, so…” he trailed off and glanced back at David who was smiling at him, his eyes as warm as his lips had been.

“Well, fortunately, I’m a very generous person.”

Patrick laughed, taking a breath to try to calm his heart that seemed to be trying to beat out of his chest.

“If you wanted to help out at the store tomorrow, I wouldn’t say no,” David said slowly after a moment.

Patrick nodded immediately. “Of course. I… I’d really like that. I mean for the store, and for… you know.”

David just smiled. “Yeah.”

Patrick shook himself out of the moment, checking the time and realizing that it had gotten late. “I should head back.”

David nodded as he walked to the counter to gather his things. He shut off the working lights and locked the door behind them, leaving he and Patrick standing on the sidewalk in front of the store.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Patrick,” David said, much quieter now in the darkness.

“Goodnight, David,” Patrick replied, leaning in boldly to kiss David’s cheek.

David caught Patrick’s cheek with his hand as he went to pull back, and David dove in to kiss Patrick’s lips again quickly.

“Goodnight, Patrick.”

And with that David turned to walk back to the motel leaving Patrick blinking in his wake.

It took Patrick a few seconds to steady himself enough to head back to Ray’s himself. He’d just kissed David Rose _twice._

All Patrick could think was that he wanted more. More quiet kisses in the half-lit store, kisses to reassure David that everything was going to be okay, kisses to make David feel better if Patrick teased him too much. He wanted to kiss David up against the counter, to invade his space and be with him all the time. Patrick knew there was a threadbare loveseat in the back room, and now all he could imagine was making out with David there, the curtain closed, just them together separated from the outside world. He just wanted David. In any possible way that David would allow him.

The only problem was, of course, that every kiss would be their first for David. Patrick wanted to date David Rose, but the logistics were more than a little complicated when one party doesn’t actually know that a relationship is taking place.

That night more than ever Patrick wished for tomorrow.

 _True love’s kiss breaks the spell in fairytales_ , the hopeless romantic part of him thought, immediately countered by his more pragmatic side which reminded him not to get his hopes up (naturally the pragmatic part was correct; the next day was still exactly the same).

But Patrick took what he could. He pushed the boundaries that had existed between he and David for as long as he’d been trapped in this day. He spent every spare second at the store, helping David, reassuring him, teasing him – anything to get to kiss David again (the sloppy mouth thing might have been a bit too far, but David had made out with him in the back room after closing that day, so Patrick couldn’t feel bad about it).

Sometimes he managed a soft, sweet kiss in the afternoon before the opening, which let in the possibility of deeper, more intense kisses afterward. David was usually shy and hesitant, at least at first, and Patrick, as much as he wished that David would remember their time together, knew he would never tire of that little bit of happiness and awe that filled David’s eyes every time they kissed for the first time.

Patrick was grateful for any moment he was able to be with David, but with every kiss, every touch, it got harder and harder to keep it together. He found himself caught up in daydreams of David kissing him when he got to the Café in the morning or David coming back to Ray’s with him at night. He imagined them walking hand-in-hand through town, Patrick pulling David around corners to press him up against buildings and kiss him until they were both breathless. He wanted everything. Kisses, casual touches, a relationship. A life. With David.

David who looked up at him with only a faint recognition every time Patrick met him at the Café. David who Patrick had to charm every single day to even get the smallest bit of the life he wanted for them.

It couldn’t last.

One day, David kissed Patrick after they’d spent the entire afternoon together, a frantic hurried thing just before Stevie walked in the door. The pair spent the rest of the evening staring at each other even more obviously than normal, at first trading shy smiles, but by the time Roland and Jocelyn and the other stragglers had been ushered out as politely as David could manage, David’s eyes were dark and wanting every time they met Patrick’s.

Alexis sat on the counter, oblivious as she chattered about Ted and tried to steal lip balms. She was the main reason the opening had extra run long tonight, and Patrick was feeling a little less charitable toward David’s sister than he usually was. Patrick liked getting lunch with Alexis, but he cursed himself from the morning for deciding that it would be a nice thing to do today. No lunch with Alexis was worth sacrificing precious moments he could be kissing David.

Patrick took a couple steadying breaths from where he was standing behind the counter to keep from grabbing David and pulling him into the back room while Alexis was still there.

“So, um thanks for your help Alexis, but Patrick and I have this under control,” David said impatiently, his eyes darting over to Patrick before looking away. “Right, Patrick?”

Patrick nodded immediately. “Yep. Entirely under control.”

Alexis cocked her head to the side as she looked at David. “You’re being weird. Is this because Mom and Dad didn’t come?”

David rolled his eyes, seeming as though he was moments away from bodily throwing his sister out the front door. “No, Alexis. This is not because Mom and Dad didn’t come. I just want a moment alone in my store, thanks.”

Alexis glanced back at Patrick, her eyes widening as her mouth spread into a smirk. “Oh! Right! Well I’ll just take Patrick with me then, if you want to be alone,” she said pointedly.

“No, he can stay-”

“Oh, I think David needs my help-”

David and Patrick both spoke at once.

Alexis wrinkled her nose and hopped down from the counter, heading for the door. “Okay, I don’t need the details. Have fun you two.”

“Oh no that’s not-”

Patrick trailed off as the door closed behind Alexis.

David quickly locked it and turned around, his eyes even darker than they had been.

"Is that really not what we’re doing?” David asked, his voice lower than Patrick had ever heard it.

“Fuck,” Patrick breathed out, entirely unable to form sentences.

Instantly, David was on Patrick, his arms wrapped around his neck, both of them stumbling back into the wall behind the counter, hands grabbing, their mouths moving against each other frantically, needing, _craving_ this – anything.

Through the haze that was the feeling of David pressed up against him, Patrick managed to guide them back through the curtain so he could push David down onto the loveseat, following David down himself a moment later.

“David,” Patrick moaned into the kiss, needing to be closer, to feel every inch of David beneath him, his hands working their way under David’s sweater, wrapping around his back, pulling him impossibly closer.

“Patrick,” David sighed back into Patrick’s neck where his teeth were nipping at Patrick’s skin.

Eventually their separation was too much, and Patrick turned his head to recapture David’s lips with his own. “Come home with me,” Patrick breathed across David’s lips.

David nodded against him instantly, but then Patrick’s lips were on his again, and it took several more minutes for them to separate, Patrick entirely unwilling to give up his position against David.

It took even longer to make it back to Patrick’s car that he’d brought to town today on a whim (the quicker he got to the store, the quicker he could see David had been his logic). It was worth it just to get to press David up against the side, trailing kisses all down his jaw to his collarbone as David’s fingers traveled through his hair.

“Patrick,” David almost whined beneath him, prompting Patrick to laugh, kissing David’s lips once more before going around to the driver’s seat.

Neither of them spoke as Patrick made the short drive to Ray’s, Patrick steering with one hand so his other could rest lightly on David’s thigh.

When they arrived, Patrick found Ray’s car in the driveway. It was increasingly common for Patrick to get back after Ray when he and David ended up together in the back room after the opening, but he still sighed a little, knowing that Ray would have a million questions about the opening for David, and it would be impossible for them to get away.

“So Ray’s home,” Patrick commented with a groan as he unbuckled his seat belt and started to get out of the car. “Just try to keep your answers to his questions short, and we’ll be good to go, okay?”

The expected laugh or indignant comment from David didn’t come.

Patrick turned to David and found him staring hard into his lap, the needy look on his face gone in the porch light.

“Actually, Patrick, could you take me home?” David’s voice was quiet.

“Of course,” Patrick replied immediately, re-buckling his seat belt and backing out of the driveway without asking any follow-up questions. He’d never been rejected by David before, but they’d never made it this far before either. He certainly wasn’t going to push David into anything. Patrick had the upper hand here in such a major way that it wasn’t fair for him to ask anything of David at all.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them as Patrick drove back through town to the motel. Thankfully David pointed out his room because Patrick would have just gone there automatically, and he didn’t need to explain how he knew where David lived.

“Thanks for the ride, and for everything else,” David said quickly, about to open his door, but Patrick couldn’t take it anymore.

“Did I do something wrong?” Patrick asked before he could stop himself. If he’d done something wrong he could fix it for the next day. That was the single upside to this world he was living in. He had all the chances in the world to make a perfect night with David.

David looked up at him, fondness in his eyes rather than annoyance or anything else Patrick had been dreading. “No, of course you didn’t,” David said softly. “I… well we really just met today and that wouldn’t normally be a hang up for me, like at _all,_ but today’s been kind of an emotional day for me, and I really like you, and I feel like I need to take tonight before rushing into this.” David shook his head, his eyes darting away from Patrick’s. “I just don’t want to mess this up.”

Patrick let out a breath as a thought came clearly to the front of his mind.

He was in love with David Rose.

Somewhere deep down he’d known it for a while, maybe since their first kiss, maybe even before that, but here in his car, David vulnerable in front of him wanting to take some time because he already didn’t want to mess things up between them… Patrick was long gone. He’d fallen so hard, and Patrick was pretty sure he was never going to recover.

All he could do for the moment was smile softly at David and squeeze his hand. “I don’t wanna mess this up either.”

David smiled up at him, relief clear in his face. “Can we talk tomorrow?”

Patrick nodded, his heart breaking inside his chest. “We can talk whenever you like.”

David slipped out of the car, ducking down just before he shut the door. “Goodnight, Patrick.”

“Goodnight, David.”

Patrick drove back to Ray’s on autopilot, thoughts racing through his head. He was in love with David. And David liked him too much be with him too quickly. It made sense. Patrick had been trapped in this reality for probably the equivalent of months, and every step forward he took involved days and days of build-up. But for David it was just the one day, and the fact that David already liked him enough to be honest with him, to try to make sure he didn’t mess things up by moving too fast… it was a huge testament to how much David liked him already.

If Patrick didn’t have to live in this one day over and over again, he could be with David, fully, always. They could run the store together, and David could come back with him at night. Patrick knew his own past was complicated, though in ways different than David’s, but he also knew that if he could have David for the rest of his life, for longer than this one day, David would be there for him through anything. He was kind and caring beneath his sweaters and sarcasm, and all Patrick wanted was to be able to love him and to maybe, one day, have David love him back.

But Patrick was trapped here, in love with David Rose who, when morning came, would barely remember he existed.

Patrick shrugged off Ray’s questions when he got back to the house, making his way up to his room and collapsing on the bed, remembering the feeling of David against him, and wishing that David was here now.

The next morning, when David looked up at him foggily in the Café, Patrick had to leave, taking his car up to his favorite hiking trail to he could have his second panic attack in peace.

He was in love with David Rose, but his heart couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to get away. Somewhere where he didn’t have to see David every single day, where his heart didn’t shatter into a million pieces every time David didn’t remember him.

He couldn’t do this anymore.


	5. and when I'm sad, you're a clown

Patrick stopped working at all after that. Whenever Ray came into his room to ask about breakfast, Patrick would tell him he needed the day off and that he’d start on Monday instead, and without another word (well without another word from Patrick, Ray had many words), Patrick would throw on some clothes and be out the door.

Usually he hiked, sometimes not even on trails, just through the woods, not caring about bugs or poison ivy or wild animals, knowing that regardless of what happened to him, he’d still wake up at Ray’s without any consequences.

Some days he wandered aimlessly through town, avoiding anyone who he thought of as a friend. Other days he drove to the Wobbly Elm and sat at the bar or in a dark booth in the corner for the entire afternoon and into the night, wanting to forget that he was trapped here, wanting to forget David Rose with his perfect hair and his gorgeous smile who existed like a constant in his mind.

There was no point to anything anymore, no point to trying to be with David. He wasn’t quite sure there had ever been a point to begin with.

One day he drove into Elmdale and ended up running into Jake again who invited him back to his place that night.

Patrick had almost taken him up on the offer, but just the idea of being with someone who wasn’t David was enough to keep him away. This wasn’t a crush or some infatuation with the most beautiful man he’d ever seen – Patrick was in _love_ with David, and sleeping with Jake wasn’t going to help him.

When he was feeling particularly masochistic, he would walk by Rose Apothecary and glance in at David and sometimes Stevie, working feverishly. But he never went in, not anymore. It hurt too much to see David, just as beautiful as he’d been the night Patrick first saw him, look at him without really seeing him, without knowing how much he meant to Patrick.

Driving aimlessly through town late one morning, Patrick happened to pass by David and Stevie on their way into the store. David was laughing at something Stevie had said. The sight made Patrick’s heart ache.

Patrick knew David’s laughter well – how David always tried too hard to keep his smile in check, but how it slipped out anyway, just a little bit, just enough. The sound echoed in Patrick’s head, even though it had been days since he’d actually heard it. He missed it so much it felt like a physical pain inside him. Being away from David was supposed to protect him, but it was making him miserable.

As he passed the man he loved so fully, so completely, Patrick made a decision and turned the car around, heading to the main road.

Back when he was a kid when he’d had a bad day, there was always one thing that could make him feel better. He just hoped it would still work now.

The drive took hours, just like it had in the opposite direction what felt like a lifetime ago. But Patrick knew the way.

Patrick felt tears beginning to well up behind his eyes as he reentered a familiar town that, as far as anyone here knew, he’d just left the day before.

It was evening by the time he pulled into his parent’s driveway. He’d probably already missed dinner. Not that it really mattered.

He walked up to the front door, hesitating on the porch. He could let himself in; he still had his key. But the Patrick that lived here felt like a lifetime ago. That Patrick was confused about things that Patrick knew for certain now, but he was confident in others that Patrick today could no longer take for granted (Patrick’s sexuality for one, not to mention the actual passage of time).

The Patrick that slipped in through the back door with a duffle bag the night he broke up with Rachel was nothing like the man who stood on the porch now, his heart thoroughly broken by a man who barely knew he existed.

He wasn’t that other Patrick anymore.

So he knocked.

And when his mother opened the door, her eyes wide and confused, Patrick immediately broke down in tears.

“Oh sweet boy,” Patrick’s mother gathered Patrick in her arms, pulling him across the threshold as he sobbed on her shoulder.

He vaguely heard whispers between his parents, but he couldn’t make out any actual words.

Eventually his mother pulled back slightly to lead him into the living room and onto the sofa.

Patrick let go of his mother entirely then, feeling a bit embarrassed at breaking down so completely, as he grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table and blew his nose.

“Are you moving back home?” his mother asked tentatively. “Or do you want me to call Rachel?”

“No, none of that,” Patrick replied, shaking his head, almost laughing. He’d thought about Rachel so little lately. It was almost funny to think that this had been his life so recently.

“Then what is it, Patrick?” his mother asked, even more confused than she had been.

Patrick looked up at her. “This is going to sound insane, but you have to believe me, okay?”

“Of course, sweetheart. Anything.”

Patrick managed a small smile. His mother had always been so kind and compassionate. He could only hope that she would listen.

“So, yesterday morning I left to go to Schitt’s Creek,” Patrick began, his mother nodding along. “And today I started work. Except, for me, it’s been today for months.”

His mother stared at him, confused. “I don’t understand, Patrick.”

“I’ve been reliving today over and over again. For so long, Mom. I’ve gone through it all so many times. Every day I wake up, and it’s Friday June 19th; it doesn’t matter where I go to sleep or what I do, it’s always the same day. And there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“But Patrick, that’s…”

“Not possible, yeah.” Patrick rubbed his face in his hands. “I wouldn’t believe me either. But it’s the truth. I’ve been reliving the same day over and over again, and I don’t think it’s ever going to be tomorrow. I’ll never get to…” he trailed off, his mind drifting to David as it often did. He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, but I’m just stuck there. Forever.”

His mother didn’t seem quite convinced, but he could tell she was doing everything she could to be supportive, so she just nodded. “Do you…. do you have any idea why this is happening?”

Patrick shook his head. “Every time I figure something out about the town or about myself, I hope that it’ll let me go, but it’s just the same thing every day.”

“And have you told anyone about this before now?”

Patrick nodded. “My friend Stevie, just once. Well I say friend – she never even met me today. But sometimes we’re friends.”

“And you spend your time with this Stevie person?”

Patrick shrugged. “Sometimes. I do a lot of things. Or I used to. I haven’t done a lot lately.” He hung his head, not really wanting to admit how bad the last few weeks had been.

“What kind of things?” his mother prompted.

Patrick sighed. “I hike sometimes. There’s a few really nice trails nearby. It helps me clear my head. Sometimes I actually do work for Ray.” He started mentally ticking off his checklist. “Um, the mayor falls off a ladder and ends up in the hospital if I don’t stop him from falling, so I usually manage to swing by for that. I get tea at the Café in the mornings. But mostly… mostly I spend time with this guy. David.” Patrick couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face as he said David’s name.

His mother’s eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly at Patrick’s smile. “What’s he like?”

Patrick felt his smile grow even more. “He’s really smart and funny and easier to tease than anyone I’ve ever met. He runs the general store in town – today’s the opening actually. I mean _every day_ is the opening. I usually go help out. It’s beautiful; you’d really like it. It’s the kind of place you just want to spend time in. David brought me back there right at the beginning when I was having a panic attack, maybe three or four days into the whole repeating thing, and just being in there while David worked was so comforting. I mean part of that was just David, but the store too.” Patrick felt himself blushing at the admission that had slipped out.

“So you and David…?”

Patrick looked up at his mom, hoping against hope that this would go okay. “I’m gay, Mom. I… I didn’t know before. But then I met David, and he changed everything.”

“Oh sweetheart.” Patrick’s mother reached out and covered his hand with hers. “Thank you so much for telling me. I love you so much.”

Patrick let out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “I love you too,” he said with a small smile.

“Does David know how you feel?”

Patrick slumped down on the sofa. “Not today,” he said quietly. “Sometimes he knows, but I’ve been avoiding him for a while now. It just got too hard. Every day I walk into the Café, and he only knows my name and not anything else about me. We’ve spent so much time together that he’ll just never ever remember. I help him set up the store every day, and I always take over the register when Stevie has to leave the opening early. And then we get to talk together after it’s over.” He smiled wistfully remembering soft kisses and low lighting. His favorite place in the world.

He shook his head. “Our entire relationship is in my head. I can’t very well come out and tell David that I’m in love with him when every day he’s barely spoken to me before.”

“You’re in love with him?” There were tears behind his mother’s eyes, though Patrick wasn’t sure if they were happy or sad. Maybe a bit of both.

Patrick just nodded. “Yeah. He’s… he’s everything to me.”

“Oh my sweet boy.” His mother pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m so happy for you, and I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, me too,” Patrick agreed into his mother’s shoulder.

“Hey Patrick, I warmed up some dinner for you.” His father was standing in the doorway, rubbing at his own eyes – Patrick would have bet he was listening to his entire conversation with his mom from just around the corner.

“Thanks, Dad,” Patrick said, blowing his nose again quickly before getting up and heading to the kitchen.

As Patrick ate, his parents asked him innocuous questions about the town, nothing about David, nothing to make Patrick sad again, but David, naturally, crept into every answer. As much as Patrick liked Alexis and Stevie and even Ray, David _was_ Schitt’s Creek for Patrick, even if he didn’t know it. Patrick could no sooner excise David from the stories of his past few months than he could stop breathing. Even his moments away from David were always tinged by the other man. It all came back to David.

Eventually Patrick and his parents settled in the living room, the TV softly playing local news in the background, though no one spoke.

“What do you think I should do?” Patrick asked eventually. “What would you do with an eternity like this?”

His mother looked thoughtful, but his father spoke first. “I think I’d use the time to do things I can’t usually do. Read some books. Pick up your guitar. It’s been so long since I’ve heard you play.”

Patrick smiled sheepishly at his father. It was true. He hadn’t played his guitar at all since he’d gotten to Schitt’s Creek, and before that it had been months since he last played anything, back before he proposed to Rachel probably.

“What about you, Mom?”

His mother just smiled sadly at him. “I think all you can do is help, just like you’ve been doing. You can help David have the best possible store opening and be nice to his sister and talk to his parents, and you can do whatever else to help out this town. But just make sure that you take care of yourself too.”

Patrick laughed a little at that. While David was often liable to talk at length about “self-care,” Patrick hadn’t been doing a very good job of it himself. “I’ll try to be better about that,” he admitted to his mother.

“But really I think there’s someone else you should ask about this,” she continued with a sad smile.

Patrick looked at his mother, confused. “Who?”

His mother shook her head. “David, Patrick. You should talk to David.”

She was right. He knew she was. He wasn’t sure how he was going to manage to bring it up, but there was no one in the world more important to Patrick than David, and this was a conversation they needed to have together, at least once.

Patrick nodded finally. “Thank you,” he said simply.

“Of course.”

Patrick hugged both his parents tightly before he went to bed that night. He’d been right to make the drive back to his childhood home. He’d needed this.

“Anytime you want, you just come right back here, okay, Patrick?” There were tears in his mother’s eyes again.

Patrick nodded immediately. “I will. I promise. I love you guys.”

“We love you too, son.” His father patted him on the back, his eyes sad but not wet.

When Patrick closed his eyes to go to sleep that night, he thought of David, and for the first time in a while the thought wasn’t accompanied by overwhelming sadness.

Tonight there was just a bit of hope mixed in.

* * *

“Then put your little hand in mine. There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb.”

Patrick sucked in a breath as he sat up in his room at Ray’s, taking in the last minute before Ray barged into his room.

He needed to find David.


	6. and if I get scared, you're always around

Of course it wasn’t so much “finding” David as it was walking up to him in his booth at the Café where he sat every single day and saying hello.

But framing it as finding David felt more dramatic and much more on brand for the conversation Patrick intended to have with the object of his “search.”

“Patrick, right?” David said as Patrick greeted him.

Patrick flashed him a smile and sat down across from David without being invited. “Yep. And I need to talk to you.”

David narrowed his eyes skeptically. “…okay?”

“So when you met me yesterday it was my first day in town.”

David nodded. “You said.”

“So today should be my second day in town, yes?”

“Uh huh…” David seemed like he regretted this conversation already.

“What if I told you that I’ve been living in this day, today, Friday June 19th, the day of the Friends and Family soft opening of Rose Apothecary, over and over for so long that I’ve lost count. Definitely months. Maybe half a year. Honestly who knows.” Patrick looked across at David expectantly. “What would you say if I told you that?”

“Um, I think I’d ask you to leave because I’m very busy,” David said, motioning Patrick away with a wave of his hand, returning his attention to his notebook.

Patrick rolled his eyes and continued, undeterred. “What if I could prove it to you?”

David looked up again at that. “I’d ask you how.”

“You never called the electrician, so half of the store is going to be dark for the opening tonight,” Patrick said, not breaking eye contact with David.

“Oh fuck!” David frantically pulled out his phone.

“The electrician can’t make it until tomorrow. But it’ll be okay.”

David set down his phone, clearly not believing Patrick yet, but also not _not_ believing him. “What else?”

“You should really check on Mr. Hockley’s tea. Jocelyn and Roland figure out it’s marijuana and have a field day.”

David stared at him indignantly. “That is a tea Mr. Hockley makes out of a greenhouse on his farm… and now that I’ve said it out loud, I might have to double check.”

Patrick just smirked at him and began reciting facts in earnest. “Alexis has an econ test tomorrow that she says really nervous about, but really she’s upset about Ted. Your dad is driving Stevie up the wall since the motel might sell out tonight, but she’s secretly really excited about it. The motel’s profits are up 25% in the last month and climbing – your dad showed me all the numbers a while back. Sometimes I try to mess with you by moving the lip balms to the center table at the store, but then you tell me that it’s “incorrect” and move them back before I can get a word in edgewise.”

“Well that would be ‘incorrect,’” David mumbled to himself, his eyes still locked on Patrick’s.

Patrick grinned. “I once asked if you could drink the body milk and you told me that anyone with a ‘fiber of common sense’ would know you can’t drink it. But I _have_ graduated from the David Rose school of soap arranging; I can demonstrate later if you need it.”

From the corner of his eye, Patrick noticed Twyla making a beeline for their table, Patrick’s tea in her hand.

He grabbed David’s notebook, ignoring the other man’s protests, and flipped to a blank page, scribbling down something. “And Twyla’s about to come over here and tell you about her mother’s boyfriend’s stepsons and all her cousins who are coming to the opening tonight, and I need you to not freak out on me.”

He slid the notebook back to David, just as Twyla arrived.

“Here you go!” she said with her usual smile as she set down the mug in front of Patrick, before turning to David. “So are you ready for the big day, Mr. Business Owner?”

Patrick watched David’s eyes go wide as he read those exact words, scribbled by Patrick only a second before.

“I’m… I’m not sure,” David replied, blinking at Patrick in disbelief.

Twyla nodded at him understandingly. “I bet it’s a lot to take in, but I’m sure it’ll be great. We’re all so excited.”

“We?” David asked, staring up at her, almost cowering, waiting to see if Patrick’s other prediction would come true.

Twyla beamed at him. “Yeah! My mom and her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s stepsons. And the cousins are all coming down, obviously.”

Patrick smirked at David across the table, taking a sip of his tea.

“Right,” David replied distractedly, his eyes even wider as he stared at Patrick. “Um, thanks Twyla.”

“See you tonight!”

“Now do you believe me?” Patrick asked as Twyla walked away from them.

“You’re either a very sure-of-yourself stalker or…”

“Or?” Patrick prompted.

“Or you’re telling the truth.”

Patrick leaned back smugly. “There you go.”

David’s eyes narrowed. “If you’ve been living this day over and over again, why have you spent so much time at my store?”

Patrick’s face softened. “I like spending time with the guy who owns the place.”

David raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

Patrick nodded, a smile appearing on his lips automatically. “He’s pretty great, actually. He has an amazing eye for color and design. He’s the easiest person in the world to tease, but he can give it back pretty well too. He once got advice about panic attacks from a vet, but he actually did a great job talking me through one. He cares deeply about his family and his friends. He’s worried about business stuff, but he shouldn’t be because he’s got it under control and because I would do anything to help him out. His smile is my favorite thing to see every day. Spending time with him has been the only thing that’s kept me from spiraling for the entire time I’ve been here… and I’m not really sure where I would be without him.” 

David let out a heavy breath. “Patrick that’s insane. I barely know you.”

“I know you don’t know me, but I know you. And maybe, just for today, we could get to know each other, on more equal footing. Where I’m not pretending to meet you for the first time.” Patrick looked across the table pleadingly. Teasing David by predicting the future was fun and everything, but this was what he really needed. A day where he could be honest with David, where he could talk to this man, his favorite person to talk to, about everything, not holding anything back.

“Okay.” David’s voice was soft, but it was clear.

A relieved smile spread across Patrick’s face immediately as he let out a breath. “Thank you.”

It was definitely one of Patrick’s favorite days so far. There was less flirting and trying to get David to kiss him than had been the case for a while, but it had been traded out for more meaningful conversation that Patrick wouldn’t have given away for the world.

David asked Patrick to tell him about his daily routine and especially about the opening, which Patrick only did in minimal terms, not wanting to spoil everything for the other man. Patrick actually pulled David out of the store for a couple hours in the morning, assuring him that everything would absolutely get done, to bring him along when he went to save Roland and then to grab lunch with Alexis, Patrick knowing at precisely what minute she would walk through the door to the Café.

“She gets really sad if she has to eat lunch by herself,” Patrick said quietly to David as they walked back to the store afterward. “And then she stresses you out at the opening, and we can’t have that.”

David just shook his head at Patrick. “Everything about you is impossible.”

Patrick wasn’t sure if that was exasperation or awe, but he’d take it either way.

“And yet, here I am,” Patrick replied with a wink as he opened the door for David so they could head back to work.

Patrick heard a badly stifled laugh from David in front of him, and his heart felt whole for the first time in weeks.

The opening went similarly to how it always did, Stevie leaving quickly (which Patrick had predicted, providing him the opportunity to give David an “I told you so” glance as he took over the register), cheerful Alexis flittering around the store, Ronnie glaring at Patrick for no good reason.

“What’s that about?” David asked him during a single free moment when he was able to stop over at the register, inclining his head at a disgruntled Ronnie.

Patrick just shook his head helplessly. “I’ve tried dozens of times, but I just don’t think Ronnie’s every going to like me. Maybe _that’s_ why I’m trapped here!”

David laughed openly, grinning at Patrick’s discomfort. “Well if that’s it, then you might be here a long time.”

Patrick shrugged, trying not to let his fondness for David show too obviously on his face. “As long as I’m with you.” And he turned back to ring up the next customer, only briefly seeing the surprise and maybe even something close to happiness on David’s face.

Alexis stuck around for a while that night, but Patrick and David were purposefully being extra slow cleaning up, so she eventually got bored and decided to walk home by herself, with one last congratulatory smile for David and a bad wink at Patrick.

“So I think I want to see this repeating thing happen for myself,” David said after the Alexis-less silence had stretched between them for a while.

Patrick narrowed his eyes. “And how would you do that?”

“I’ll go back to your place with you, and we’ll stay up until it’s time for today to start again.”

Patrick would have been lying if he said he was anything but ecstatic with the prospect of David coming back to his room at Ray’s, but he didn’t want to get the other man’s hopes up. “I’ve tried staying up before. It doesn’t work.”

“You’ve never tried with me,” David replied, shrugging. Then he hesitated for a moment. “You don’t, um, not want me to come, right?”

Patrick shook his head quickly. “No, I definitely want you to come over. Um. I’d really like it if you came back with me.”

David smiled at him. “Okay then.”

They ended up back in Patrick’s room, David making many, many comments about the décor and also about how Patrick needed to unpack (“I’ll get to it tomorrow,” Patrick had replied with an eyeroll, making David laugh but then apologize), before the pair settled against Patrick’s bed, his laptop open in front of them playing rom-coms selected by David as they talked quietly together. Ray barged in a few times, suggesting that they move their party to the sofa downstairs, but Patrick had resisted, growing increasingly annoyed with his boss and landlord, but when Ray entered the room yet again, only now with a bowl of popcorn made for the two of them (or really just for David; Patrick had spent enough time with him to know that David was capable of eating an entire bowl of popcorn by himself), Patrick resolved to never say an unkind word about Ray ever again.

Patrick started drifting off into their second movie, but David hit him to wake him up. “Come on, we’re staying up all night.”

“But I’m so tired, David,” Patrick whined.

David laughed. “Do you want to try to break this curse or not?”

That made Patrick sit up so he could laugh properly, stretching out, but somehow ending up pressed even closer to David when he returned to his original position. “So I’m cursed now?”

David shrugged. “Sounds kind of like a curse to me. Don’t get me wrong, it would be pretty cool to be able to do whatever you want with no consequences, but I feel like it might get kind of lonely." David fiddled with his rings, deliberately not looking at Patrick.

“It is lonely,” Patrick admitted. “I know everyone in this town so well, but no one knows me at all. Even you’re going to forget me tomorrow, and you’ll have to get to know me all over again.”

“I won’t totally forget you,” David corrected.

Patrick turned sharply to the man next to him, but David was still intently focused on his hands in his lap.

“At the Café last night, well _my_ last night,” David amended, “I thought about you the whole walk home.”

“Really?”

David nodded, finally looking up. “It’s not everyday someone like you shows up in town. You’re something special, Patrick Brewer.”

Patrick stared at David, eyes wide. David had called Patrick impossible earlier, but if anything was impossible it was that David Rose existed at all. “So are you,” Patrick replied softly.

“So do you spend every day with me?” David asked, almost shyly.

Patrick laughed. “Not every day, just most of them. Yesterday, I only saw you out the window of my car before I drove back to my parents’ house to cry about everything to my mom.”

David offered him a sad smile. “Did they believe you when you told them?”

Patrick paused. “I think so. Or at least they didn’t say to my face about it. I don’t usually show up sobbing on their doorstep. I also came out to them while I was there, which I hadn’t really anticipated doing, but it’s not like they’ll remember.”

David nudged Patrick’s shoulder with his. “That’s still pretty brave of you.”

Patrick shrugged. “Well, they would have figured it out anyway. I literally can’t shut up about you.”

David’s face reddened under Patrick’s gaze. “I wish I could remember.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

“Um, can I ask you something, Patrick?”

Patrick looked up. “Of course, David. Anything.”

David seemed upset, more upset than Patrick usually saw from him. “This isn’t like about you and me or whatever, but… my parents missed the store opening tonight.”

Patrick felt his heart sink. “They did.”

“Have they ever come?”

Patrick sighed and shook his head. “They always say they want to, and I think they really do. But they must get held up at the motel with whatever crisis that makes Stevie leave the store. I don’t think it’s intentional.”

“Oh.” David was staring at his hands again.

“I know they care about you,” Patrick added, trying to reassure him. “And I know if tomorrow ever happens, your parents will come down and be very apologetic about missing the opening. Your mom might also ask some questions about why I care so much about you, which could potentially be awkward.”

That brought the smallest of smiles to David’s lips, but it faded quickly.

“I know they care about me, but I just wanted them to see what I can do,” David admitted finally. “This is the first thing I’ve ever done all on my own. Even the galleries I had back in New York, I found out a couple months ago that my parents bought all my patrons, everything. They didn’t believe in me, and I’m not sure they do even now, but this was my chance to show them. And they never even come.”

David leaned his head against Patrick’s shoulder, and Patrick immediately curled his arm around David’s back to bring him in closer.

“I’m sorry, David,” Patrick whispered into his hair.

David just nuzzled further into Patrick.

They sat like that for a while, whatever movie they were watching playing on the computer screen in front of them (Patrick briefly recognized Sandra Bullock but he had no idea what she was doing there).

“David, what would you do with eternity?” Patrick finally spoke softly to the man in his arms.

David didn’t reply right away, but Patrick could feel how his breathing changed, how his focus shifted from the screen to Patrick.

“I would spend more time with my family, I think,” David answered finally, his voice small. “But I think I’d like to have a lot of days just like this. With you.”

Patrick pressed a kiss to David’s temple. “I think I want that too.”

The pair turned back to the movie, Patrick finally admitting he had no idea what they were watching, leading to a lengthy lecture about Sandra Bullock’s filmography that had Patrick fighting back laughter at how passionate this man was about romantic comedies (and about everything else). Eventually David selected and third and then a fourth movie as they stayed up into the night curled into each other, Patrick grateful beyond anything else that he had David here with him at this moment.

Patrick felt himself drifting off again, and David in the crook of his neck wasn’t much better.

“Patrick?” David’s voice came soft and sleepy.

Patrick hummed in reply.

“Do you love me?”

“I do,” Patrick replied without hesitation, his eyes flicking down to see a smile across David’s face, his eyes closed.

“Thank you,” came David’s reply, punctuated with a small kiss to Patrick’s shoulder before David snuggled into him fully.

He would stay like this forever if he could.

* * *

But before long Ray was singing down the hallway and Patrick was alone again, all evidence of his night spent curled up with David Rose gone.

But now he had a purpose. David didn’t have an eternity that he could remember, but Patrick did, and he was going to make that eternity for him.

So Patrick took his dad’s advice and pulled out his guitar and played songs he used to sing at open mic nights in college and arranged covers of David’s favorites, thinking that someday he could tell David everything again and maybe he wouldn’t mind if Patrick sang to him.

He took his mother’s advice and tried to help out however he could. He watched tons of YouTube tutorials to learn how to wire the uninstalled lights in the store (the first few times the lights flickered menacingly after all the townspeople left, interrupting Patrick’s congratulatory hug and foiling Patrick’s attempts to get David to kiss him again, but he didn’t mind so much now). He passed out menus to help Twyla during the lunch rush at the Café, and he told Ted about a new hiking trail he discovered far outside of town. He ran errands for Mrs. Rose, earning a proper pronunciation of his name (though still no praise from Ronnie), and of course he still helped save Roland.

And he also helped out at the motel. He learned that the reason Mr. and Mrs. Rose got held up there every night was a last-minute check-in (“the motel’s fully booked! For the first time ever!” Mr. Rose was liable to call out so loud that the entire fully-booked motel could actually probably hear him) followed by a plumbing backup in Room 4 that always turned into an absolute disaster.

But when Patrick offered to stay and help with the check-in, Mr. and Mrs. Rose were able to go the opening, leaving Patrick to deal with the plumbing problem probably better than Mr. Rose ever could (especially with some practice).

And when Alexis and Mr. and Mrs. Rose got back to the motel, clearly beyond impressed by what they’d seen at the store, Mr. Rose was not entirely able to articulate how proud he was of David while Mrs. Rose raved about the interior design and how many people had actually come to the event.

“Thanks so much for holding the fort here, Patrick,” Mr. Rose said gratefully. “I… I would have been sorry to have missed that.”

“Anytime, Mr. Rose,” Patrick replied, meaning every word.

That night Patrick stuck around the parking lot long enough to see David come back too, a wide smile on his face, pride clear in his eyes.

That was the piece David had been missing all this time. Patrick was just sad it had taken him so long to give this to the man he loved.

But Patrick’s mother had also told him to take care of himself, and there was something else he needed to do.

So one afternoon, Patrick slipped outside Ray’s house and selected a contact on his phone that he hadn’t even thought about for a long time.

“Patrick?”

“Rachel, hey.”

“I thought… I’d heard you left town yesterday.”

“I did. And things have been crazy ever since, it’s too much to go into, but, um, there’s something I need to tell you.” He felt suddenly nervous, even though he knew that whatever he said would be gone by tomorrow.

“Okay?”

“I’m sorry for the way things ended between us,” he said first, needing to get this part out. “I made a lot of mistakes, and even some things I didn’t know were mistakes that turned out to be mistakes. But I, um, I figured out part of the reason why things never worked. And I don’t know if this is going to make you angry or if it’ll make things better, but I just need you to know… Rach, I’m gay.”

“What?” Rachel didn’t sound upset, just confused.

In fairness this was really out of the blue for her.

“I’m gay,” Patrick repeated. “I only just figured it out. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it earlier… it would have saved us both some time…”

“Oh, Patrick.” Rachel didn’t say anything else for a moment, but Patrick let her work through it.

“Well shit,” she said finally. “I’m glad you’re telling me now, but… shit.”

Patrick laughed. “Yeah… yeah that’s about right.”

“So, is there like a guy you’re seeing or something?” Rachel asked tentatively.

Patrick sighed. “Kind of. It’s complicated. I guess I’d _like_ to be seeing him.”

“What’s his name?” she asked. Patrick could hear a soft, kind smile in her voice. Patrick had missed that, Rachel’s kindness and friendship. He hadn’t realized how much.

“David,” Patrick said, the word the most natural thing on his tongue. “His name is David.”

“Well I hope things work out with him. And, um, I guess, keep in touch?”

“I will, Rachel,” Patrick agreed easily. “You’ve always been one of my best friends, and this doesn’t change that. Though it’s totally fine if you don’t want to talk to me for a while. This was kind of a big bombshell to drop on you.”

Rachel’s laugh rang out through his phone. “That’s an understatement, Brewer. But I think we can be friends. Just maybe don’t call me again for a while.”

“Got it. Thanks for being so cool about this. It really means a lot.”

“You’re welcome, Patrick. Take care, okay?”

“I will.’

They said their goodbyes, and Patrick leaned back against the porch railing with a sigh.

She wouldn’t remember tomorrow, but at least he knew that they were okay. Or that they could be okay.

That evening Patrick took over at the hotel so David could be with his family, but he left before they all got back, walking through town as the opening was winding down. He could see David through the store window chatting with Alexis and Stevie, bathed in light from the fixtures Patrick had installed that afternoon.

Maybe tomorrow he would spend more time with David. This was his eternity; he needed to make the most of it.


	7. I got you babe, I got you

Patrick had it down to a science. He knew exactly where to be and when to be there. He kind of wished he had a spreadsheet that could carry over with him from day to day, even though he didn’t need it. He knew every second of this day by heart.

Of course, there was still some chance involved. Patrick didn’t know every word he was going to say throughout the day or exactly how people would react to his tone of voice or body language. He had a pretty good idea, naturally, but occasionally he’d be surprised by something.

Today though, Patrick had a good feeling about today.

“Rise and shine, Patrick! First day on the job!” Ray’s voice was as enthusiastic as it always was. “I’m making you a nice breakfast. What would you like?”

“Thanks so much, Ray,” Patrick replied brightly, grabbing his phone (7:03AM, Friday June 19th) and getting out of bed. “Let me shower quick, and I’ll come down and help.”

“Oh, Patrick, that’s just too kind!” Ray replied, grinning broadly. “How about I start on pancakes, and you can just jump in when you get down?”

“Sounds good!” Patrick sighed somewhere between content and resignedas Ray left his room. This was his life, and he was making the most of it.

After breakfast (Patrick already knew all the stories Ray told him as they worked side-by-side at the stove, but he didn’t mind), Patrick drove into town, letting Ray know he would probably be out all day, a bag slung over his shoulder filled with paperwork that he could practically recite from memory.

“Hi Patrick! Good to see you again!” Twyla greeted him as he walked into the Café.

Patrick smiled back at her. “Good to see you too, Twyla. Can I just get a tea? Thanks so much.”

And then there was David. Patrick knew this conversation better than anything in the world. He knew how to make David smile and how to reassure him about Twyla and how to tease him just enough to throw him off his game but not enough to upset him. It was a delicate tightrope, but Patrick was a pro.

“I just need tonight to go well,” David said, his posture reflecting confidence, but his words just a bit too tense for him to fully pull off the illusion. “I’ve put so much into the store, and I can’t let it fall apart.” He sighed. “It’s just hard to be doing it all myself.”

Patrick offered him a smile. “David, I can promise you with absolute certainty that tonight is going to be perfect.”

David narrowed his eyes. “How would you know that?”

Patrick just shrugged. “Call it a hunch. It’s gonna be great. And if you need any help at all, just ask. I’m pretty good at unloading boxes and setting up refreshments.” He pulled a blank scrap of paper from his pocket and quickly wrote down his name and phone number.

David took the paper from him hesitantly, but the small smile he was trying to hide was enough for Patrick.

He met Stevie outside after David signed the forms, Patrick appreciating Stevie’s usual delighted grin at Patrick teasing David, then he slipped away to save Roland from some broken bones, taking the opportunity to chat with Roland and Jocelyn a bit more than he usually did and eventually walking with Roland up to town hall.

“This is Ronnie,” Roland introduced Patrick after sharing with his fellow council members the story of Patrick saving his life.

“Nice to meet you,” Patrick held out his hand to the woman, but she just looked up at him skeptically for a moment before returning to her computer.

Maybe if he had longer than a day to impress Ronnie he could manage it, but as things stood, this was one battle Patrick was never going to win.

“And this is Moira Rose,” Roland continued, ignoring Ronnie’s reaction to Patrick.

“It’s really nice to meet you, Mrs. Rose,” Patrick said with a wide smile. “David was just telling me all about his store over coffee this morning. You must be so proud of him.”

“Oh, yes of course we’re proud of our David,” Mrs. Rose said offhandedly, though Patrick could sense the sincere affection she held for her son. “Such a large undertaking. I do hope it will be a success.”

“It is already,” Patrick replied without hesitation. “David’s put so much work into it. And he’s really excited to show it to you tonight.”

Mrs. Rose seemed taken aback for a moment by how serious Patrick was, but she blinked and was back to her usual self. “Well we shall see it tonight then, won’t we, Peter.”

“It’s Patrick,” Patrick corrected with a grin. Mrs. Rose forgetting his name was a constant he’d long grown used to.

Patrick borrowed the ancient scanner that he’d found in town hall a while back to submit David’s forms, saving him a trip back to Ray’s and giving him more time to talk to Roland and Mrs. Rose who seemed increasingly curious about him the more he told Roland about the store.

“You really do believe in our David, don’t you?” Mrs. Rose asked as she looked him over appraisingly.

“Yeah, I do,” Patrick answered with the soft smile that he knew only appeared when he thought about David.

Mrs. Rose raised her eyebrows at that, but she didn’t say more about it.

“Until we meet again, Patrick.”

Patrick grinned. “See you tonight, Mrs. Rose.”

He checked his watch as he walked back into town. Right on schedule.

He literally bumped into Alexis down the street from the vet clinic, her eyes downcast and the economics textbook clutched in her arms clattering to the ground as Patrick ran into her.

“Is everything okay?” Patrick asked after apologizing and handing her book back.

Alexis flashed him a smile he knew was fake. “Oh that’s so sweet of you to worry! I’m just nervous about my econ test, that’s all.”

“I’m a business manager, if that could be helpful,” he offered. “And I’m not a bad listener if you need to talk about anything.”

Alexis seemed like she was going to decline his suggestion, but then she sighed. “Actually, that might be really nice.”

“Great,” Patrick replied with a small smile. “Come on, let’s grab some lunch.”

And Alexis told him about school and then about Ted, and Patrick listened and reassured her, until David walked into the Café at which point Patrick’s focus shifted to his favorite person in the world who Patrick fell into teasing without a second thought.

“Get your food, and I’ll come back to the store with you,” Patrick said with an easy smile. “I told you I’m here for whatever you need.”

David still seemed surprised by Patrick’s insistence on helping, but he agreed, leaving Patrick to pay for lunch and say goodbye to Alexis.

“It’s sweet of you to help out David like that,” Alexis said as they stood up. “He seems so much calmer about everything than he was this morning.”

“After all the work he’s put into the store, he deserves to have the opening go well,” Patrick said, overly fond as he watched David at the counter waiting for Twyla to return with his lunch.

Alexis tilted her head at him, her gaze not unlike her mother’s earlier that morning. “Have fun this afternoon,” she said with a poor attempt at a wink.

“I will,” Patrick replied, trying not to laugh at David’s very un-subtle sister. “And I’ll see you tonight.”

Alexis hugged him quickly, and then she was gone, leaving Patrick to return to David and head back to the store.

Patrick easily alternated between compliments and teasing as he walked through David’s store for the “first” time, and the afternoon passed quickly in a blur of easy banter, light touches, and glances held for just a second too long. The tension in the air was familiar, but it took Patrick’s breath away every time.

Eventually when David started getting too antsy, Patrick sent him back to the motel to get changed and get Stevie, promising to finish up and lock the door behind him when he left.

Aside from setting up refreshments, finishing up at the store specifically meant installing the light fixtures (Patrick could do it in his sleep now), though David had never actually realized they were missing today. Now he never needed to know.

Patrick glanced back before he slipped out the door. It was all perfect. Just like David deserved.

His next stop was the motel where he got talking to Mr. Rose and Stevie under the guise of some paperwork from Ray, and when Mr. Rose got the call about the last-minute booking, Patrick immediately offered to stay so Mr. and Mrs. Rose could go off to the opening. Stevie stared hard at him at that, clearly trying to figure out what his angle was here, but soon David was there and Stevie’s suspicion was replaced by quiet exasperation at Patrick’s clear David-centric motives. David seemed surprised to see Patrick at the motel, but Patrick just waved he and Stevie out the door, telling him he’d see them later.

Once all the Roses were off the premises, Patrick quickly dealt with the plumbing problem in Room 4 before it could turn into an event-stopping disaster (another skill Patrick had picked up in his eternity), and he managed the quickest check in he’d ever done, before he headed back to the opening, only half an hour late.

As soon as he stepped through the door, Patrick was met with a blinding David Rose smile from across the store. David had been watching for him. The thought made Patrick’s heart leap in his chest.

David quickly extricated himself from the conversation he’d been having with Bob, and fought his way over to Patrick, who met him halfway, desperate to get to the man he loved who was smiling at him with such surprise and excitement.

“Did you install the lights?” David asked without preamble.

Patrick didn’t want to take credit for it, but luckily Roland and Jocelyn interrupted him before he had to.

“Patrick! My hero!” Roland pulled him into a bear hug.

“We really do owe you one, Patrick,” Jocelyn said, grinning widely herself. “I kept thinking all afternoon what would have happened if Rollie had fallen off that ladder.”

“It was nothing, really,” Patrick said modestly.

Roland just slapped him on the back and turned to David. “Dave, this is a pretty sweet place you’ve got here. Pat really talked it up earlier, but he might have even undersold it.”

David’s eyes flashed to Patrick’s again, something like awe on his face.

Patrick just shrugged.

“I do have a question about this tea,” Jocelyn added.

Patrick had to look away to hide his laughter.

Alexis came up to him then, quickly introducing him to Ted, wide smiles on both of their faces as Alexis talked about the econ that Patrick had helped her with and Ted made puns about the store, his eyes always flashing over to Alexis to see if they made her laugh.

Patrick smiled to himself. Alexis had already admitted how much she wanted to be with Ted, and Ted’s little glances at Alexis reminded Patrick more than anything of how he himself been looking at David for months. If Ted and Alexis ever got a tomorrow, they would find a way to be together, and Patrick would be the first one to wish them well.

Across the store, Patrick could see Stevie getting overwhelmed at the register, so he excused himself from Ted and Alexis to try to help, but he’d barely made it two steps when he found himself face-to-face with Mr. and Mrs. Rose, who both seemed more than a little impressed by the space around them.

“Everything went okay at the hotel?” Mr. Rose asked, getting the business out of the way first.

Patrick nodded. “No problems at all. Happy to help out. And I’m glad you were able to make it tonight. David’s really happy you’re here.”

“You were correct earlier today, Patrick,” Mrs. Rose said, her eyes and her smile seeming for a moment like she knew more than she was letting on about Patrick’s feelings. “David did turn this depressing little hovel into a veritable sanctuary. I could never be anything less than entirely proud of my first-born.

Patrick glanced behind him and found David, now talking to Ronnie, looking up to meet his eyes, the same brilliant smile still shining across his face as he looked at Patrick.

“The town’s lucky to have him,” Patrick said as he turned back to Mr. and Mrs. Rose.

Mr. Rose nodded deeply. “It certainly is.”

Patrick slipped away to take over for Stevie, who mouthed “thank you” to him, the relief plain in her eyes, as she stepped out from behind the counter to get away from chatty customers who just wanted to go on and on about how nice the store was and how excited they were to shop here and “if Jocelyn and I put our discounts together does that mean we get 50% off?” (Patrick was glad he was the one to field Roland’s question because Stevie might have actually punched him). 

Eventually the town began to drift out of the store in small groups, Jocelyn and Roland grinning as they absconded with their “tea,” Ted clapping David on the back and congratulating him, Mr. and Mrs. Rose hugging their son and telling him just how proud they were of what he’d accomplished.

Patrick busied himself at the register as Alexis and Stevie joked around with David, but eventually Stevie came back to join Patrick, letting the Rose siblings have a minute alone together.

“I’m glad David met you,” Stevie said after a moment.

Patrick glanced up at her. “I’m glad I met David.”

“I wasn’t sure when you offered to take over at the motel earlier,” she continued, as serious as Patrick had ever heard her, “but once we got here and David realized you fixed the lights for him, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy.”

Patrick just smiled into the cash drawer not trusting himself to respond.

She stared hard at Patrick as though searching for something, a flaw maybe, or ill intentions, but then she smiled, just a little bit. “Don’t hurt him, okay?”

Patrick shook his head immediately. “I would never. I promise.”

Stevie nodded, the smile still on her face. “I believe you.”

And then she stepped out from behind the counter, calling over to ask Alexis if she wanted to go grab a drink at the Café before they went home.

Alexis started to argue that David had to come too, but a well-placed elbow from Stevie silenced her and left her grinning at her brother until David shooed them both out, Alexis throwing a significant look back at Patrick as she slipped out the door.

And the two men were left in the store alone, just light jazz music coming through the speakers, David’s choice for a “relaxing retail environment” (Patrick had received a lengthy lecture on that subject ages ago, and he was happy to agree with David).

“You did do the lights, didn’t you?” David asked then, moving closer to the counter.

With nowhere to deflect, Patrick nodded. “I didn’t want to stress you out.”

“Are you like qualified to do that?” David’s words were both skeptical and teasing.

Patrick shrugged. “I’m no electrician, but they’re done right, I promise.”

David shook his head. “You’re a man of many talents, Patrick Brewer.”

“Am I?” Patrick asked, his words deeper than their usual teasing as he stepped out from behind the counter. “Dance with me, David,” he said softly, extending a hand to the other man.

David looked up at him, surprised, but he reached out anyway, allowing Patrick to pull him in, David’s arms settling naturally on Patrick’s shoulders.

The pair swayed to the music, the store lights shining overhead, the world perfectly calm and right around them.

“Congratulations, David,” Patrick said quietly.

“Some thanks to you I think,” David replied with a small smile.

Patrick shook his head. “It was nothing. This is all yours.”

“It is,” David conceded, “but I don’t think things would have gone as smoothly if you hadn’t been here. Plus half the town loves you already, somehow,” David added, his eyebrows raised, though Patrick could see fondness in his eyes.

“Am I not loveable?” Patrick teased back.

David rolled his eyes, clearly fighting back a laugh. “I was more impressed by the fact that my mom remembered your name when she was saying goodbye and that you somehow got Alexis to not feel weird about spending time with Ted.”

“Ronnie hates me though,” Patrick interjected. “So I’m not universally beloved.”

David shook his head, an amused smile on his face. “There is that.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

“This might have been the best day of my life,” David mused finally.

Patrick’s grinned broadly. “I did tell you the opening would be perfect this morning, didn’t I?”

David laughed, Patrick’s favorite sound in the world. “You did. And you were right.” His smile was so open and so happy Patrick could have spent the rest of his life staring at it. “This was… this was perfect, Patrick. More perfect than I ever imagined.”

Patrick cocked his head to the side. “Oh, and why’s that?”

David smiled down at him almost shyly. “I certainly never imagined you.”

Patrick let out a soft breath as he pulled David closer, bringing his lips up to meet David’s.

This was where Patrick was happiest, dancing in David’s arms, their lips moving against each other softly, sweetly, as though they were the only two people who existed in the world. They didn’t need any more than their arms wrapped around each other, Patrick’s hands light but firm on David’s back and David’s close around Patrick’s neck. Patrick knew he would love David forever, and if he could live only in this moment, he gladly would.

As their lips broke apart, Patrick pulled David into a hug, burying his face into David’s neck. “This was kind of a perfect day for me too,” he whispered reverently.

He felt David grin against his shoulder.

They finally separated after a moment, though David’s arms were closer around Patrick’s neck than they had been, and Patrick was holding tighter to David’s waist, both of them still swaying lightly to the music.

Patrick wasn’t sure he’d ever seen David this happy, this at peace.

“Come home with me,” Patrick breathed out, the words leaving his lips before he could think twice about them. “Just to talk, just so we can be together… I feel like I want this perfect day to last a little longer.”

David’s smile grew even wider as he nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

They finished closing up the store, trading soft kisses and shy smiles as they moved around one another. It was familiar, comfortable, and, in Patrick’s eyes, entirely perfect.

Patrick drove David back to the motel so he could grab his things, he and Alexis’s motel room still dark since Alexis was still at the Café with Stevie and Twyla. Patrick watched fondly from the doorway as David moved quickly and deliberately around the room gathering items for his overnight bag, eventually meeting Patrick back at the door with a kiss and a smile as they walked back to Patrick’s car hand in hand.

The lights were off at Ray’s, but Patrick spied Ray’s car in the driveway as Patrick pulled up. He tensed in his seat, remembering the day he’d brought David back here only to have him decide to go, but David just laughed about Ray and took Patrick’s hand again, and they crept quietly through the house, somehow avoiding Ray entirely.

And when they got upstairs, Patrick hung onto every horrified comment David made about his room and about how he hadn’t unpacked yet, because David’s hand was solid in his and his lips were warm as they kissed at the foot of the bed, open and unhurried, no pressure to do anything but be with each other. It was all Patrick had ever wanted.

They fell into talking about the store and David’s future plans, and Patrick again offered his help.

“There’s small business grants you can apply for that would help offset costs. You’d be an ideal candidate. I wouldn’t mind filling out applications for you.”

“You really don’t have to do that, Patrick,” David tried to brush him off.

“I’d like to,” Patrick insisted. “And when we get the grants you can start paying me. I don’t know if you got this, but I’m kind of into the store. And I’m kind of into the store owner too.”

David blushed and shook his head. “You shouldn’t say things like that, Patrick.”

But Patrick just kissed him. “I’m sorry, it’s a reflex.”

And as David kissed him back, deeper than before, pulling him close on the bed, Patrick found that David had definitely been right. This was the best night of his life.

But their kiss was soon interrupted by a yawn from David, entirely worn out by the opening and everything that had come with it, so Patrick, laughing, suggested they go to bed.

They got ready in turns, and just seeing David walking around his room in sweatpants and a t-shirt was domestic in a way that Patrick had never realized he needed.

They laid down together, Patrick almost instinctually curling around David, his arm resting over David’s stomach.

“Is… is this okay?” he asked hesitantly, tensing when he’d realized what he’d done.

David pulled Patrick’s hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss there. “It’s definitely okay.”

They spoke quietly together then, David making interior decorating suggestions as Patrick stifled laughter into the back of his neck, until David’s breathing evened out beside him, and Patrick felt himself following close behind, feeling more exhausted than he had in months, like it was the end of a very long day.

Life in Schitt’s Creek had never been quite like this. If he could end up here with David again, he’d do it a million times.

But Patrick still let himself hope one more time that he would get to keep this – the happiness, the contentment, David. The best day of his life.

Maybe he wouldn’t have to lose it all this time.

* * *

“Then put your little hand in mine. There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb.”

Patrick sighed sadly as he heard Ray’s voice from down the hallway, but he didn’t open his eyes. For just another moment he could pretend that David was still here and that yesterday hadn’t completely disappeared.

He heard the door fling open. “Rise and- oh I didn’t realize you had company, Patrick. I’ll just get started on breakfast, and you boys can come down when you’re ready.”

Patrick’s eyes flew open in time to see Ray wink at him and retreat through the bedroom door.

Something stirred in the bed next to him.

“Did Ray just come into your room, or did I imagine that?” David’s voice came groggily from where his head was buried right next to Patrick’s neck.

Patrick just stared at him. David… David was here. In his bed. In the morning.

“You’re still here,” Patrick breathed, almost reverently.

David opened his eyes warily at that, lifting his head so it was level with Patrick’s. “I mean you invited me back here… was I not supposed to have stayed?”

But Patrick just grinned and threw his arms around David’s neck,sending them both falling back into the mattress as he peppered kisses across David’s face, finally landing on his lips before he pulled back. “I’m _so_ glad you’re here, David. You have no idea how glad I am you’re here.”

David eyed him warily for a moment, but his concern quickly morphed into the shy smile that Patrick loved. “I’m glad I’m here too.”

The door flung open again. “What kind of pancakes should I make for you boys? Oh hello, David!”

David ducked his head, but Patrick had seen the excitement in David’s eyes when Ray mentioned pancakes, so Patrick took it upon himself to give the man he loved what he wanted.

“Chocolate chip would be great, Ray, thanks.”

“No problem!” Ray flashed them both another wink before he exited again.

“I’m not a fan of the not knocking, but I _am_ here for chocolate chip pancakes,” David commented with a grin.

“I figured,” Patrick replied, smirking. “Come on.” He kissed David again quickly before shoving him lightly to make him get up.

David grumbled, but he couldn’t hide his laughter.

But before David actually got out of bed to head to the bathroom, he turned back to Patrick, clearly running something through his mind.

“What is it?” Patrick asked, momentarily concerned.

David shook his head but didn’t move. “I was just thinking. I know we only really met yesterday, but I feel like I’ve known you a lot longer than that. Does that make any sense?”

Patrick almost laughed. “Yeah, David. It really does.”

David’s face melted into a smile once again as he kissed Patrick quickly and left him alone in his room.

Patrick grabbed his phone and unlocked it, letting out a breath when he saw the date across the screen confirming once and for all that this was real. Saturday June 20th. Tomorrow. Finally.

He got out of bed and moved to the window, staring out onto the streets below, the streets of his town. His home now.

His home with his friends and the store and with David.

Patrick couldn’t wait to be in Schitt’s Creek for the rest of his life.

Starting today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I had the best time with this, and I really hope you liked it!!
> 
> Now that we're ~public~ come chat on tumblr @parksanddownton603 :)


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